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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 




An Alaska Indian Girl. 



ALASKA 



ITS HISTORY AND RESOURCES 

GOLD FIELDS 

ROUTES AND SCENERY 



MINER W. BRUCE 



ILLUSTRATED 




-""^^z'fyfl ^ 



LOWMAN & HANFORD STATIONERY AND PRINTING CO. 

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON 

1895 



Copyrighted 1S95, 



LowMAN & Hanford Statioxery and Printing Co. 
Seattle, Washington. 



3:- 



INTRODUCTORY. 

Zl lyTHOUGH the author cannot undertake within the limits of 
this volume to deal, in an elaborate way, with the vast and 
varied resources of Alaska, he is of the opinion that the matter 
contained in its pages is such as will give the reader an intelli- 
gent idea of this great territory, its past and present, and the 
outlook for its future. The contents will be found reliable, and 
the information touching the leading industries of the country 
and its resources, including the great Yukon gold fields, which 
are now commanding attention, has been prepared with care, and 
with the view of ensuring the greatest possible accuracy. A 
more complete reference to the Eskimos of Arctic Alaska and 
the introduction of domesticated reindeer among them can be 
found in his report to the Bureau of Education at Washington, 
and his monograph in the census report of 1890, will furnish 
further information than is here given upon the southeastern 
portion of Alaska, both of which may be had free upon applica- 
tion to the respective departments. 

Six years spent in Alaska, first in the interest of journalism, 
and later in other pursuits, have enabled him to present an accu- 
rate and truthful account of his observations concerning the de- 
velopments of the past few years. 

The field is large, and already the dawning of great enterprises 
fills the minds of ambitious projectors. Gold fields are to be 
opened up, railways built, possibly with a span of communication 
with the Old World, besides many other projects which will cause 
the active American brain to vibrate with new vigor. And if the 
writer can awaken any patriotic sentiment to further and protect 
the interests of this grand territory, he will be satisfied. 

He cannot consistently advise those seeking a place to make a 
home, or those looking for a new field of labor, to choo.se Alaska, 
unless they have some means, and a reasonable amount of stamina, 
and good health. To any one possessed of the.se qualifications, 
he unhesitatingly and unqualifiedl}^ says "Go." 

He is in earnest when he saj-s that he believes the next few 
years will present many opportunities for investment, and for 
laying a foundation for lucrative business enterprises, and, per- 
haps, wealth. But if any one expects to acquire these without 
experiencing the hardships and privations incident to pioneer 
life, he will be disappointed. Minkr W. Bruck. 



CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER I. 

HISTORY. 

Alaska. — Discovered by Vitus Bering, a Dane, in 172S — Mt. St. Elias. — 
Search of the Spaniards. — Capt. Cook — Vancouver. — Purchase of 
Alaska in 1867. — Origin of Name — Its Geographical Extent. — The 
Organic Act. — A Prohibition Country. — Efforts to Secure Congressional 
Action. 

CHAPTER II. 

TOPOGRAPHY. 

Topography of Alaska. — Verdant Islands. — Two Great Natural Divisions. — 
Numerous Fiords. — Great Rivers. — Immense Valleys. — Lakes and 
Tundra. — Mountain Peaks and Volcanoes. — Cape Prince of Wales — 
Diomede Islands. — Shallow Water at Bering Strait. — Railroad Across 
the Strait. 

CHAPTER III. 

CIJMATE — AGRICUVruRE — FLOR.\. 

Influence of Japan Current. — Precipitation in the Coast Country. — Average 
Rainfall. — Healthfulness of Alaskan Climate. — Dense Vegetation. — 
Cultivation of Root Crops. — Cereals and Grasses — Interior as a Stock 
Raising Country. — Vegetable Life Rapid in the Far North. — Harvest 
Closely Follows vSeed Time.— Experimental Agricultural Stations. 

CHAPTER IV. 

MINKR.\L AND TIMBER. 

First Discovery of Gold in Southeast Alaska. — The Great Treadwell Mine. 
— Progress of Mining. — Rich Deposits of Silver and Galena Ore. — 
Where Free Milling Ore is P'ound. — Russian Placer Mining in Early 
Days — A Promising Mining Section. — The Yellow Cedar. — Spruce and 
Hemlock Abundant. — Timber of the Interior. — Where Bituminous Coal 
is Found. 

CHAPTER V. 

FISHERIES. 

Immense Salmon Canning Industry — More than One Hundred Varieties of 
Fish Found in Alaskan Waters. — Capacity of Canneries. — A Canner}- 
Trust. — Salmon Streams Usually Small. — The "River of Life" at 
Karluk. — Development of Alaska Retarded — Cod and Halibut Fish- 
ing. — Immen.se Schools of Herring. — The Oolikon or Candle Fish. — 
The Beluga. — The Whale Indu.stry. 



CONTENTS. 
CHAPTER VI. 

ROUTE To THE YUKON RIVER. 

Ty-a, the Head of Steamboat Navigation. — Necessary Supplies for the Trip. 

— Natives and Miners Pack Supplies — Reduced Cost of Living in the 
Interior. — Manner of Traveling. — Headwaters of the Yukon. — Cariboo 
Crossing — Lakes Linderman, Bennett, Marsh and Le Barge — Route to 
be Followed. — Cannon. — White Horse.— Five Fingers. — Trading Posts 
at Forty Mile and Fort Cudahy. — The Yukon Flats. — Navigation of the 
Yukon. 

CHAPTER VII. 

THE YUKON GOLD FIELDS. 

Gold First Discovered on the Yukon. — Three Divisions of the Interior. — 
Recent Discoveries. — Forty Mile Creek. — Birch Creek. — Climate of the 
Interior. — Long Winter Vigil. — Largest Nugget Ever Found in Alaska. 

— Placer Mining in Winter. — Gold Quartz Deposits. — Vicissitudes of 
the Miners' Life. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

LAND AND SEA ANIMALS. 

Fur Seal Industry. — Seal Rookery. — Hunting the Sea Otter. — Brown and 
Black Bear. — A Thlinkit Legend. — Home of the Beaver, — ^The Black, 
Red, White and Blue Foxes. — The Polar Bear. — Deer, Moose and Other 
Animals.- Eagles and Humming Birds. — The Feathery Tribe — Vast 
Resources of Alaska. 

CHAPTER IX. 

THE TOUR EST ROUTE. 

From Seattle to Sitka. — The Season for Tourists. — Seattle. — Tacoma. — 
Port Townsend. — Victoria — Nanaimo. — Seymour Narrows — Chatham 
Sound. — First Glimpse of Alaska. — New Metlakahtla. — Fort W^rangel. — 
W'rangel Narrows. — Taku Inlet. — Juneau — Treadwell Mine. — Lynn 
Canal. — Glacier Bay. — The Silent City. — Grandeur of Fairweather 
Range. — Peril Strait. — Sitka. — Mt. Edgecombe. — The Far Beyond. 

CHAPTER X. 

AL-^SKA INDIANS. 

Their Origin. — Ouass. — The Totem Pole and Its Significance. — Witchcraft, 

— Exorcising Evil Spirits. — Cremation Still Practiced. — Shamans or 
Doctors. — Expert in Carving and Engraving. — The Chilkat Blanket. — 
Atoning for Murder. — Blackening Faces. — Houses of Natives. 

CHAPTER XI. 

ESKIMO H.A.BITS AND CU.STOMS. 

An Eskimo Dwelling. — An Industrious and Patient People. — Primitive 
Manner of Making Fire. —Slaves to Tobacco. — The Oomiak and Kyak. 

— Eskimo Rain-Coat. — Tattooing by Women. — Wearing Labrets by 



CONTEXTvS. 

Men. — Polygamy. — Athletic Sport?. — Dancing Principal .Amusement. 
— Zaksriner, the Contortionist. — The Eskimo Dog. 

CHAPTER XII. 

REINDEER. 

Importation of Reindeer. — Starving Eskimos and Canse for Same. — Dr. 
Sheldon Jackson Interests Government. — Arctic Alaska a Natural 
Feeding Ground for Reindeer. — .\ Boon to the Eskimo. — Habits and 
Characteristics of the Reindeer. — Manner of Driving. — Reindeer Sledge 
and Harness. — Reindeer (yood Travelers. 

CHAPTER XIII. 

MrS.SIONS .\N1) SCHOOL.S. 

Russian Missionaries Sent to Alaska in 1793. — A Strange Admixture. — Lit- 
tle Progress Made. — Indian Attendance at School Not Encouraged. — 
Long Neglect of Congress to Provide Civil Government. — Dr. Sheldon 
Jackson in Charge of Educational Affairs.— Public School System 
Established. — Indian Industrial Training Schools.^ Devotion of Mis- 
sionaries and Teachers. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

THE BOUNDARY DISPUTE. 

Claim Made by the British Government. — The Treaty Between Russia and 
England. — Line of Demarkation Clearly Established. — AVjsurditj' of 
the British Claim. — The Ten Marine League Limit. — Portland Canal as 
the Eastern Limit. — Language of the Treaty. — Why Great Britain 
Wants this Strip of Territory. — An Outlet to the Great Interior. — Con- 
gress Cannot Afford to .Stultifv Itself. 



ERRATA. 

Page 17, third line — Convention should read committee. 

Page 18, tenth line — 1891-92 should read 1889-90. 

Page ]8, sixteenth line-- ifci9i should read 1890. 

Page 35, .seventeenth line — Kakutat should read Yakutat. 

Page 115 — Dr. Sheldon Jackson first went to Alaska in 1877. 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



An Alaska Indian Girl, - - - - Frontispiece. 

OPPOSITE 

PACE. 



Karluk Sand Spit and " River of Life " - - 40 

Yukon Miners at Sheep Camp, - - - - 44 

Yukon Miners Sledding Over Route, _ _ - 48 

Yukon Miners Packing Over Route. - ~ - 5° 

Yukon Miners and Natives Packing Over Route, - 52 

Yukon Miners at Stone House, - - 54 
Yukon Miners and Natives at Summit of Chilkoot 

Pass, --------- 56 

The Canyon, Yukon River, ----- 60 

Fur Seal Rookery, St. Paul Island, - _ - 64 

Killing Fur Seal, St. Paul Island, - _ _ 66 
Juneau, ---------72 

Grenville Channel on Tourist Route, - - 76 

The Great Treadwell Mill, ----- 78 

The Treadwell Ledge, ----- 80 

Sitka, at 10:30 p. m., _-_--- 82 

Front of Muir Glacier, ----- 84 

Crevasse on Top of Muir Glacier, - - 
The Silent City, _ - - - - ' - 

Sitka Harbor, - - - -- - - -92 

Greek Church at Sitka, Exterior View, - - 94 

Greek Church at Sitka, Interior View, - - 98 

Southeastern Alaska Indians and Canoes, - 100 



86 
88 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - Continued. 



OPPOSITE 
PAGE. 



Hon. Warren Truitt, ______ 102 

Zaksriner, _--_____ 103 

Eskimo Boy, Eskimo Hut, Eskimo Girls, Eskimo 

Family, Eskimo Spearing Walrus, _ _ _ 104 

Herd of Reindeer Lying Down, _ _ _ _ 108 

King's Island, North Bering Sea, ._ _ _ _ 112 

Dr. Sheldon Jackson, _ _ _ _ _ _ 115 

Harrison R. Thornton, _ _ _ _ _ _ii8 

Hon. Charles D. Rogers, _ _ _ - _ 121 
New Metlakahtla, _ - _ _ _ _ _i28 

LIST OF PEN SKETCHES. 

Totem Pole, _____--_9 

Russian Block House at Sitka, _ _ _ _ 1 1 

Indian Canoes, ________ 39 

Eskimo Canoe, _______ 44 

Miners Hauling Sleds, ______ 53 

A Yukon Nugget, _______ 60 

Eskimo with Dogs, ______ 62 

Seal, _________ 63 

Seal in Water, ________ 66 

Baranoff Castle, _______ 93 

Indian Woman, ________ 95 

Indian Doctor, _______ 99 

Reindeer Team, _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 113 

Map of Alaska, Showing Routes, Disputed Boundary. 



/\I/\SKA. 



CHAPTER I. 



HISTORY. 



A LASKA is the name of all that portion of 
^ the northwest extremity of this continent, 
which, until 1867, was known as Russian 
America 

It is only a matter of conjecture how 
long this region would have remained a terra 
incognita had not the Imperial government 
at St. Petersburg sent Vitus Bering, a Dane 
-fey birthr, on a voyage of discovery. The 
year 1728 'saw him in command of an expe- 
dition whose object was to find, if possible, 
new lands, and whose course led through the 
waters east of Siberia until he arrived in the 
great closed sea that now bears his name. 

The object of this expedition does not ap- 
pear in any degree to have been a desire to 
contribute to the cause of science; but the 
prime motives were aggrandizement and to 
extend the limits of trade. 

During this voyage Bering discovered that 
the two continents were separated hy only a 
narrow stretch of water at the point now 
known as Bering strait, and that the coast of 
the one was plainly visible from the shores of 
the other. The year following, this intrepid 
navigator endeavored to find a coast line across 
the waters to the eastward, but failed in his attempt. 
.' Immediately following this cruise, and for many j^ears after, 
there were rife rumors, which seemed to gather impetus with 
each recurring year, aided, doubtless, by Bering's own record of 
his voyages, that a rich country lay in the ' ' Far Beyond, ' ' and so 
the Russian government was stimulated to persist in its efforts . 



'A^ 



tote;m pole. 



lo ALASKA. 

In 1 741 Bering again set sail with two vessels. Severe weather 
and heavy fogs caused them to drift apart; one of them attempted 
a landing at Cook inlet, but the Indians attacked and killed a 
number of the party, and caused the remainder to put to sea and 
make their way homeward as fast as possible. 

Bering, however, sailed farther eastward, and sighted an island 
near Cape St. Elias now known as Kaj-ak island There appears 
to haVe been no extended exploration at that time; for, ere long, 
we are told, Bering also turned the course of his ves.sel westward, 
and, being beset by violent storms, was stranded east of the Gulf of 
Kamtchatka, upon the i.sland which now bears his name: and there 
shortly after, being overtaken by disease, he died and was buried. 

To this fearless explorer belongs the honor of discovering and 
naming Mt. St. Elias, which, towering 18,000 feet heavenward, 
stands a weird and grandly beautiful monument to his memory. 
This snowy shaft marks the southern point of the boundary line 
separating Southeast Alaska from the great region, extending 
many hundred miles northward to the frozen ocean, known as 
Western Alaska; an august sentinel, clad in robes of white, there 
it stands, forever keeping a silent vigil over the waters of the 
mighty Pacific, 

The vSpaniards, in the prosecution of their search for the sup- 
posed pa.ssage to India, which was the great objective point of 
their early navigators, were gradually extending their explora- 
tions northward from the South American and Mexican coasts. 
In 1592 Juan de Fuca reached as far north as the strait that now 
bears his name, and in 1775 we find that Spanish explorers had 
reached Sitka. 

The Russians, in the meantime, had arrived at I'nalaska, 

Nor had the English forgotten to send representatives to this 
new field of exploration. Captain Cook, one of the most daring 
navigators of his time, justh- shares with Bering, who preceded 
him, as does also his young lieutenant, \'ancouver, who followed 
him, the glory and honor of na\-igating the w^aters of Bering sea 
and the North Pacific. It was on his return voyage that Cook 
was treacherously killed, and, it is believed, cooked and eaten, 
by the natives on one of the Sandwich islands. 

The uncomi)leted work of Captain Cook fell upon the shoul- 
ders of a worthy successor, and the surveys which \'ancouver 
commenced about 1792 covered his name with glory. The re- 
markable care and abilit\- with which he executed the work begun 



II I STORY 



by his old commander are, even in this day of improved facilities 
of maritime science, held in honor; for his charts are closely fol- 
lowed, and in the main found reliable. 

From the time of the planting of the Czar's flag upon the soil 
of this great unknown country its honor was sullied by acts of 
oppression and crueltj-. The Russian- American Fur Company 
had securely planted its trading posts throughout the new terri- 
tory, but its rule was characterized by the most barbarotis con- 
duct, and it became so notorious that at the expiration of its char- 
ter in 1862 the government was forced to deny further franchise. 

Three years later, in 1865, the Western Union Telegraph Com- 
pany proposed to construct a line from San Francisco northward 
through the Pacific States and Territories to connect A\-ith the 
Russian line at its then terminus, Amoor, Siberia. Manj^ miles 
of line were built, but the route failed of completion because of 
the successful la3dng of the Atlantic cable, and after an expendi- 
ture of over $3,000,000 the enterprise was abandoned. 

The path of the proposed route can yet be traced for man)- miles 
in the northwest 



territory by the 
poles that are 
standing with 
wires stretched 
between them. 
The outpost of 
the part}' en- 
gaged in its con- 
struction reach- 
ed a point and 
made its winter 
quarters within 
sixty miles of 
the extreme 
western limit of. 
the continent, 
and the remains 
of two members 
of the party lie 
buried in graves 







RUSSIAN BLOCK HOUSE AT SITKA. 

dug in the icy shore, two miles east of the United States reindeer 
station at Port Clarence, x\laska. 



12 ALASKA. 

The United States purchased Alaska- from Russia in 1867, 
paN'ing the sum of S7, 200,000 for the same. At the time of the 
purchase this was generally looked upon as an extravagant ex- 
penditure; but ridicule at the action of Secretary Seward in this 
transaction has been changed to a sentiment that credits him 
with shrewd diplomacy in thus securing this great territory. 

Conjecture is never idle and various reasons have been 
assign'fed why Russia disposed of her vast possessions on this 
continent. 

It has been said that the United States commenced the nego- 
tiation to remunerate Russia, under the guise of purchase, for 
her friendh' attitude toward us during the civil war. Many 
also believe that Russia sought to dispose of this territory to the 
United States that England might not, in some wa}-, absorb it, 
and so strengthen her alreadj^ powerful hold on this continent. 
The most reasonable solution of the question however, is, that 
she wished to be relieved of the care and protection which her 
subjects so constantly required of her in maintaining the sem- 
blance of a government on this continent, and so far removed 
from her own shores. This view is also strengthened by the 
fact that Russia at no time from the earliest acquisition of the 
territory manifested any special interest in its development, and 
that the motives that actuated her in holding her possessions 
were largely influenced by the Russian-American Fur Company, 

While the name "Alaska" has been a synonym for a bleak, 
inhospitable waste of ice and snow, its literal interpretation 
will permit of no such construction. The aboriginal word is 
"Al-ak-shak," and means a great country. 

Covering a country eight hundred miles north and south b)^ 
about seven hundred east and west, containing six hundred 
thousand square miles, or an area equal to one-fourth of all the 
rest of the United States, it seems an empire in itself, and to have 
received a most appropriate name. 

It was Charles Sumner, who, at the time of the purchase, 
suggested the name "Alaska," and it was as a compliment in 
return for his warm advocacy of the purchase that Secretary 
Seward sanctioned the suggestion. 

In 1890 the lease of the fur seal islands to the Alaska Com- 
mercial Company expired, and at that time Alaska may be said 
to have emerged from a mantle of gloom and desolation. By 
this, we mean, that the great barrier in the way of its develop- 



HISTORY. 13 

ment was removed wheu this industry passed into other hands. 

The day that marked the lowering of the Russian flag at 
Sitka and the hoisting of the stars and stripes realized the con- 
ception of a plan between a few shrewd men who saw in the fur 
seal industry a great opportunity to make money. For many 
years, under the Russian regime, these islands had been made to 
j-ield a large revenue to those who controlled the business, but 
it remained for the men who formed this new combination to 
make it one of the richest private enterprises that ever thrived 
under this or any other government. 

Quietly and before the vastness of the undertaking became 
known it had passed into the hands of men who knew how to 
manipulate it, and for a period of twenty years millions of dollars 
were made and man}- men became millionaires. Nor did the 
avarice of the combination stop here. Trading posts were estab- 
lished all along the southern coast, and within a short time upon 
the banks of every stream of any importance that pours its waters 
into Bering sea a trading post was stationed, and a sharp, shrewd 
frontiersman, in the employ of this compan5^ was there to trade 
his wares to the natives in exchange for furs. 

It is reasonable to suppose that a combination which had the 
foresight and tact to secure from a great government the monopoly 
of so rich a franchise woiild also be able to absolutely control all 
the territory it sought to encompass from the encroachments of 
competition. During the entire time that the company held 
possession of this lease it took care that the impressions should 
prevail that Alaska was good for naught save the production of 
fur-bearing animals. In doing this it used the strategy which 
other business corporations would be likely to use to protect 
their own interests. 

But the eyes of an adventurous world are never long blinded, 
and during the last years in which they controlled this lease the 
company were charged with every conceivable crime, and were 
constantly obliged to defend themselves against charges of mis- 
treatment of natives. Investigation, however, always exonerated 
them, and showed that the complaints were the outgrowth of 
petty malice on the part of discharged emplo\'es or of jealousy 
among rival fur dealers who were not in the combination. 

By the terms of the lease it was liable at any moment to be 
annulled for neglect or mistreatment of natives, and this would 
"destroy the goose that laid the golden egg." Knowledge of 



14 ALASKA. 

the business methods of these men will effectualh^ dispel any 
suspicion that they would, by word or deed, commit an offense 
that would destroy the source of so vast a revenue. 

But there came a time, when the grip that this company held 
upon Alaska must be relaxed, and the spring of 1890 saw the 
lease of the fur seal islands pass into the hands of the North 
American Commercial Company. 

The whole southern coast was invaded by the new combina- 
tion, which established trading posts at every point that promised 
business with the natives. With the advent of the new company, 
a monthly mail route, for seven months of the 3'ear, was opened 
from Sitka to Bering's sea, and postoffices were established at 
different points, thus affording an opportunity to reach sections 
of the country that theretofore had been practically unknown. 

While the extension of the mail service has not yet resulted 
in the building up of any considerable towns or villages, the 
effect has been to open communication between the southern 
coast of Alaska and the outside world. 

The census of 1S90 gave the white population at 4,300, but 
during the last four j-ears these numbers have been largely aug- 
mented, and it is safe to say that the white population has been 
more than doubled. Since that date, also, the mining interests 
of the territory have large h' increased, especially in the interior, 
and with the discover)- of gold in the Yukon region, the country 
has grown with great rapidity. 

The government of Alaska, covering the period from its 
acquisition to the year 1884, was more of a military form than 
otherwise. The only officers stationed in the territory were 
those belonging to the customs service. It was their duty to 
see that any infringement of the laws, as for instance, smuggling 
liquor into the territory, or selling the same to Indians or white 
men, were corrected ; and, if necessar}', they invoked the aid of 
the military or naval force. 

About the year 1S80, the white residents of Southeast Alaska 
began to discuss the feasibility of securing some sort of civil 
government for the territory. And in the summer of 1881, a 
convention was held at Juneau, which resulted in the selection of 
Mottrom D. Ball as a delegate to Congress, The following winter 
he appeared in Washington, presented his credentials, and asked 
to be recognized as a delegate from the territory of Ala.ska. 
Further than to attract some attention to the condition of its 



HISTORY. • 15 

aifairs, Mr. Ball's visit to Washington was of no great value, for 
he was not permitted to take his seat. Still the wedge had been 
applied to the encasement of the difficulties that encompassed 
Alaska, and the light of intelligent investigation was dawning 
on her horizon. During the next session of Congress, various 
bills were introduced looking to the passage of laws that would 
give to Alaska some semblance of a civil government. 

In 1 8 S3, Senator Benjamin Harrison introduced a bill, which 
became a law in the following summer. It is called ' ' The Organic 
Act of Ala.ska," and provides for the appointment of a governor, 
district judge, clerk of the court, marshal, collector, and four 
United States commissioners, one of whom is to reside in each of- 
the principal towns of the territory, the other officers to reside 
at Sitka, which, by this act, was made the temporary capital ; 
and all these officers were to be appointed b}- the President. 
This act, though very defective, when viewed by the light of the 
past ten years, w^as still a step in the direction of a civil govern- 
ment. 

Alaska is essentially a prohibition country. It prohibits the 
cutting of timber, and the exporting of the same out of the ter- 
ritor}' ; it prohibits the killing of fur seal, except under certain 
restrictions, which give to a company the exclusive control of 
the same ; it prohibits the importation, sale, or manufacture of 
whisky in the territory, though it can be had in almost an}- vil- 
lage or hamlet within its borders ; and notwithstanding this 
absolute prohibition, the government has seen fit to collect an 
internal revenue tax from all persons having it for sale. The 
Governor is permitted to use his discretion as to whom he will 
grant a license ; it must, however, be to a druggist who will 
sell the same purely for medical, mechanical and scientific pur- 
poses. 

The attempt on the part of the government to restrain this 
traffic in Alaska has proven a farce, because of the wholly inade- 
quate means at the disposal of the officers, whose duty it is to 
execute the laws. 

From the earliest settlement of Russian America down through 
the 3'ears since the purchase by the United States, the liquor 
question has overshadowed every other, and the sturdy miners 
and those following other pursuits, and especially the missionary 
people have been in constant anxiety as to the effect unexecuted 
liquor laws would have upon the native population. While they 



i6 ALASKA. 

are practically a dead letter, yet there has been greater security 
felt since the appointment of the present incumbent as district 
judge, who seems to be able to grapple with the evil, and confine 
it within the least possible unwholesome limits. 

The visit to Alaska of Assistant Secretary of the Treasury 
Hamlin, last 5'ear, was followed this spring by the appearance in 
the waters of Southeast Alaska of an additional revenue cutter for 
the purpose of suppressing the smuggling of whisky from British 
Columbia, and although she patroled the waters diligently for sev- 
eral weeks, and sent officers ashore for the purpose of intercepting 
cargoes of liquor known to have been shipped into the territory by 
small sloops, the vigilance of the search was rewarded by the cap- 
ture of but a few hundred gallons, and the cutter finally aban- 
doned the effort and returned to Puget Sound. 

The nature of the country is such that its many intricate and 
winding channels afford most favorable opportunities for the 
smuggling of liquors into the territory, and it is doubtful if an}' 
rules could be adopted, even to the regular patroling of its 
waters by government vessels that would prevent the traffic. 

An idea of the extent to which this business is carried on may 
be gleaned from the fact that in the little town of Juneau, whose 
population does not exceed two thousand souls, there are 
twenty saloons in actual operation. 

The impos.sibility of suppressing this traffic has become so 
apparent that the best and most respected citizens of the territory 
unite in the opinion that the only way to regulate the trade is to 
have a license law. If such were the case the men who pay a 
licen.se for the privilege of carrying on the business would see 
that only those who are legally authorized are permitted to 
engage in the traffic. This would suppress the dangerous ele- 
ment known as "boot-leg" venders, who sell whi.sky by the 
pint or quart to the Indians. Many evils which now exist would 
by this means be effectually remedied, and the government would 
still retain a source of revenue. 

In 1888 the Democrats of Alaska formed a party organization 
and sent two delegates to the Democratic National Convention. 
These delegates were permitted to take their seats, and this was 
the first representation of the territor}- by her citizens 

In the fall of 1889 the Republicans organized and held a con- 
vention at Juneau, and adopted a memorial to be presented to 
members of Congress. The author of this book who drafted the 



HISTORY. 17 

memorial was delegated to proceed to Washington and present it 
to both houses of Congress. He was also chosen a member of 
the National Republican Convention from Alaska. 

The memorial referred to represents clearly the condition of 
affairs in the territory and is here given in full, as follows: 

TO THE REPUBLICAN MEMBERS OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE AND 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 

We, the Republicans of Alaska in convention assembled, respectfully 
represent to your honorable body, that on this the fifth day of November, 
1889, a day when the Republicans in the various States and Territories of 
the Union are contesting for the principles of our great party, we are denied 
that sacred privilege. 

Among the great territories of the west we alone stand a monument 
representing complete and utter isolation and non- representation. With an 
area sufficient to form a dozen States, with resources unnumbered and un- 
limited, with no manner of expressing our just needs or to demand our just 
rights, with a population of upwards of ten thousand whites and fifty thou- 
sand natives, among whom are many intelligent and industrious, we come 
to you for relief. 

With no means of acquiring title to propert}^ in which our capital is 
invested and our labor is expended, we ask the passage of such laws as will 
afford us relief in this direction. 

With many of our people desirous of securing land upon which they can 
engage in farming, stock raising, dairying and other pursuits of husbandry, 
we ask that the homestead laws be extended in such manner as will open iip 
this domain for that class of our citizens. 

With hundreds of thousands of dollars invested in the fish industry we 
ask the passage of such laws as will secure titles to their propertv, and en- 
courage the development of one of our greatest resources, and one which is 
fast becoming valuable to the nation at large. 

With vast forests extending throughout the territory we ask that the 
present laws relative to the cutting of timber be so modified as to allow it to 
be used for domestic purposes by the canneries in the packing and exporta- 
tion of their fish, and by parties actually engaged in manufacturing enter- 
prises within the territory, and the exportation of furniture and other 
wooden-wares, etc., etc., and manufactured from our native timber. 

The judiciary of Alaska is anomalous, lying between and dependent 
upon the general laws of the United States and the general laws of the State 
of Oregon, and having no true basis from which it can be interpreted. 
Therefore we ask that a code of laws be enacted for the District of Alaska, 
suitable to our wants and circumstances and made applicable to our growing 
industries and communities. 

To da}^ Alaska stands alone among the great territories of the west with- 
out a representative upon the floor of Congress, and we deem it unjust that 
2 



i8 ALASKA. 

a longer denial of the rights accorded other portions of our country should 
be imposed upon us. 

In presenting this memorial to your honorable body we humbly ask your 
xinanimous aid in our behalf, and we will ever pray, etc. 

C. F. DEPUE, Chairman. 

C. S. BLACKETT, Secretary. 

The next Republican National Committee allowed Alaska the 
same representation as other territories, and the Democratic 
National Convention followed with a like action. 

During the winter of 1 891-2, General George W. Garside and 
Miner W. Bruce labored with both houses of Congress to secure 
the passage of such laws as were demanded by the memorial ; 
their efforts were so far successful, that the house committee on 
territories unanimousl}- adopted the bill, which, on the 3d of 
March of the following year, became a law. 

In the fall of 1891, the People's Convention, held at Juneau, 
selected Captain James Carroll, the well known master of the 
tourist steamer " Queen," to proceed to Washington, for the 
purpose of securing legislation. It was largely through his 
efforts that the bill referred to became a law. 

While this bill did not, by any means, meet the needs of the 
convention, it was thought best to urge its passage, because the 
case resolved itself, into a choice of this, or nothing. 

This law is the only one by which a title to land may be 
secured in Alaska, except under the general mining laws of the 
country ; by it individuals or companies may 'purchase land at 
$2.50 per acre, for business or manufacturing purposes; and resi- 
dents of towns may acquire title to their lots. 

It is worthy of mention, in connection with Captain Carroll's 
efforts in behalf of Alaska, that when he arrived in Washington 
he proposed, .should Congress not be disposed to pass the laws 
needed for the protection of its citizens, that he was ready to 
purchase the territory of the government, and was also prepared 
to close the transaction for the sum of $20,000,000 at any time 
the government would accept it. This proposition, so character- 
istic of the man, was looked upon by many in the light of a joke; 
yet it was meant seriously and had the effect of opening the eyes 
of many public men to the value of this vast new country. 

Alaska has no legislature or officers elected by the people at 
large, but is still treated as a district, similar, perhaps, to the 
District of Columbia, where Congress directly governs affairs. 



HISTORY. 19 

The passage of the Organic act of 1884, brought into the ter- 
ritory, as government officials, many men from different states of 
the Union, most of whom were men of character and abilit3\ In 
their official capacities, they have had excellent opportunities to 
familiarize themselves with the vast richness of the territorj^ and 
the close of their terms of office has seen most of them earnest 
defenders of its interest. 

Perhaps the most enthusiastic of its advocates is A. P. Swine- 
ford, who was appointed Governor of Alaska, by President Cleve- 
land, during his first term of office. His warm espousal and 
radical views of the resources of the territor}' have attracted a 
great deal of attention to Alaska. He is charged with exaggera- 
tion and deceit in his statements of the resources and future 
possibilities of the country; but the developments of the past 
few years have demonstrated that his pictures are not overdrawn. 

In the fall of 1894, a people's convention was held at Juneau, 
and a memorial to Congress, similar to the one adopted by the 
convention of 1S89, and which the author of this book also had 
the honor of drafting, was unanimously passed. 

It was suggested, by some of the delegates, to select as repre- 
sentative to Congress Miss Kate Field, whose championship of 
the territory had been so marked that upon ever}" opportunity 
offered she urged Congress to do its duty and relieve the inhab- 
itants of their burden. That she has thereby gained the admira- 
tion of Alaska's citizens, is proved by this suggestion, but delicacy 
lest the action be regarded in the light of a burlesque, and the 
fact that no opportunity was allowed to ascertain if the honor 
would be accepted, finally caused the suggestion to be abandoned, 
and Mr. Thomas S No well was unanimously chosen delegate to 
Congress. 

Mr. Nowell's large mining interests in Alaska, and his exten- 
sive acquaintance among members of Congress and officials in 
Washington, placed him in ^Sgellent position to command respect 
and wield influence; and, but, for the fact that the session was a 
short one, Alaska would, in all probabilit}-, have been recognized 
and Mr. Nowell seated as its first delegate. 

The enormous growth of interest in Alaskan affairs during 
the past four years, is proved b}' the call from officials at Wash- 
ington for all possible information from that quarter, and that 
this interest is shared by the Secretary of the Interior, is demon- 



20 ALASKA. 

strated by the request sent to Governor Sheakely to be present 
in Washington, during this session. It was fondl}^ hoped that 
some legislation would be effected by this Congress, still, it is not 
surprising, that Alaska should suffer equally with other States 
and Territories in being overshadowed by the many important 
matters that have consumed the time of that august body. 

Onl}^ those who have had experience in the matter can realize 
the difficulty of securing legislation for Alaska. She labors under 
the exceptional disadvantage of having no one to whom she has 
a right to appeal for aid. 

The members of Congress from other States and Territories 
have their own constituencies to look after; and the demands 
upon their time by legitimate claimants are so many and so great 
that they can hardly be expected to labor for the interests of a 
country so remote and of which they know so little. 

The next few years must bring about great changes in the 
governmental affairs of Alaska. In all probability the great sec- 
tion known as Southeast Alaska will become a Territory as soon 
as there shall be a sufficient number of people within its limits 
to bring about such result. At present there is a widespread 
feeling among the residents opposed to territorial organization, 
on account of a dread of taxes, and the expenses attendant upon 
the maintaining a form of government. But these objections will 
melt awav with the onward rush of civilization. 




CHAPTER II. 



TOPOGRAPHY. 




n^HE elements of grandeur, 
weirdness, solemnity and 
vastness enter, in a large degree, 
into a topographical description 
of Alaska. Its many interest- 
ing features hold the mind 
spellbound with awe, in their 
presence, and fill the memory 
with undying wonder. The 
labyrinth of verdant islands that diver- 
sifies the coast line; the swelling plains 
of the interior; gigantic mountain 
peaks, snow-covered and hoary with 
J^ age; the mighty glaciers — vast rivers 
^^ of ice!/which for centuries have .slowly 
forged their way to the abyss of the ocean, and which, 
before many more centuries will have entirely disappeared, 
so that future ages will know them only by the records of their 
awful sublimity; the active volcanoes rearing their smoking, often 
fiery, crests among the mountain peaks; and the valleys, great 
and small, rich in natural resources of many kinds, which inter- 
sect the interior country in all directions. 

Alaska is naturally divided into two great divisions — South- 
east and Western Alaska. Mt. St. Elias marks the dividing line 
between Western Alaska and Southeast Alaska, at 141 degrees 
west longitude, running north from this point to the Arctic ocean. 
For a number of years it was supposed that Mt. St. EHas was 
within American territory, but late surveys show most of its base 
to be just over the line in the Canadian Dominion. 

Many of the islands in the inland, or tourist route, have the 
appearance of half-submerged mountains, and water two hundred 



22 ALASKA. 

fathoms deep is often found, where the breadth of the channel 
can be ahnost spanned, by the length of the ship. 

Fiords are numerous, some of them winding in serpentine 
fashion a distance of twenty or more miles, into the islands or 
mainland. The great rivers of the interior drain immense valleys, 
with mountain ranges everywhere visible. Lakes are abundant, 
often surrounded b}- tundra or swamps, ver}- frequently impene- 
trable, covered with brush, rank grasses, and other vegetation. 
After the interior is reached — and by this is meant after the 
coast mountains are crossed, in many places, only twenty or thirty 
miles from the coast — the soft earth and luxuriant vegetation of 
the coast country give place to frozen ground, and lichens and 
mosses on the mountain sides and in the valleys. But though 
the vast plains of the interior are completely within the grasp of 
the ice king, for eight months of the j^ear, with the advent of the 
long days of summer water runs, flowers bloom, and grasses 
spring into life as if by magic, and their growth is at once lux- 
uriant and rapid, even though in many places the soil is never 
thawed beyond a few inches below the surface. 

In the far north at St. Michaels, and at Point Barrow, wells 
have been dug through sixty feet of solid ice, and the same con- 
dition has been noted on the Yukon, at Forty Mile. 

The Aleutian islands, stretching far out into the North Pacific, 
surrounded by rocks scarred and battered for ages, by the boister- 
ous waves, are without trees, but they are thickly covered with 
a low growth of luxuriant vegetation. Between the mountains 
and the sea are small plateaus or prairies, with soil enriched by 
vegetable mould, and suitable for domestic gardening. Grass 
grows abundantly here, sometimes to a height of six feet. It is 
cured by the natives, to feed a few small Siberian cattle, and they 
also braid it into useful and often ornamental articles, such as 
baskets, hats and mats. The growth of this grass is so abundant 
and prolific that investigators have predicted that this Aleutian 
country will yet furnish the Pacific coast with its best butter and 
cheese; while botanists agree that the southern coast country of 
Ala.'ska abounds in grasses, and has a climate, perhaps, as well 
adapted for haying as the coast of Oregon. 

The Rus.sians esteem Cook inlet, which lies to the north of 
Kadiak, to be the pleasantest portion of Alaska in the summer 
season. Its skies are nearly always bright, as stretching far in- 



TOPOGRAPHY. 23 

land in a northeasterly direction it is out of the region of fogs, 
which so frequently prevail on the coast. Its shores are pleasant, 
being well wooded and watered. Gold has been found in large 
quantities, and recent reports tell of still richer placer deposits 
having been discovered on the inlet itself and on the Kaknu river, 
which debouches into Cook inlet. 

The guiding landmarks of Alaska may be said to be its grand 
mountains, volcanic peaks and mammoth glaciers. Mt. St. Elias 
lifts its ermine top over 18,000 feet above the level of the sea. In 
the distance it seems to have its base on the ver}^ shore of the 
ocean, although in reality sixty miles distant. From the south 
side of Mt. St. Elias eleven glaciers slowly make their way ocean- 
ward, one of them, named Agassiz glacier, being estimated to be 
twenty miles in width and fifty in length, covering an area of one 
thousand square miles. 

Mt. Fairweather, one hundred and fift}' miles south of Mt. St. 
Klias, is about 15,500 feet high ; Mt. Crillon, 15,000 ; Mt. Perouse, 
14,300; and Mt. Wrangell is over 19,000. 

There are thirty or more volcanoes in Alaska, six or eight of 
which are in an active state of eruption. Shishaldin, which is 
9,000 feet high, is certainly burning, and its smoke maj^ always 
be seen in clear weather. It is situated on Unimak island near 
the pass of the same name, usuall}- followed by vessels in enter- 
ing Bering sea. Pavlof, about one hundred miles to the east- 
ward, is another smoking mountain; the glow from its crater 
may be seen reflected against the heavens. Mt. Makushin, at the 
eastern extremety of Unalaska island, is about 5,500 feet in 
height, and gives evidence of being more or less active ; while 
the tops of Pogrumnoi and Shishaldin, on Unimak island, serve 
as beacons at night or in foggy weather for vessels on their way 
into Bering sea, as thej^ can be seen distinctly, towering above 
the dense atmosphere. Akutan island has a smoking volcano, 
4,000 feet high; and on Atka island there are several volcanoes, 
from 3,000 to 4,000 feet in height, which occasionally emit 
smoke. 

Mt. Logan, the highest known mountain in North America, 
unless it may be Mt. Wrangell, has an elevation of 19,000 feet. 
Some surveyors claim that Wrangell is a loftier peak than Logan, 
but its exact height is unknown. Wrangell is clearly within 
Alaska, but Logan is a few miles east of the line, in Canadian 
territor5^ 



2X ALASKA. 

Hot mineral springs abound all over the various island groups 
of Alaska, especially those stretching from the Alaskan penin- 
sula westward towards Asia. About fifteen miles south of Sitka, 
hot springs are also found, which possess great curative prop- 
erties. Consumption, scrofula, syphilitic diseases and rheu- 
matism are common among the aborigines, consumption being 
the most fatal ; while scrofula prevails to a great extent, aggra- 
vated, it is believed, by an almost exclusive fish diet and by 
rank uncleanliness. S3'philitic diseases, the terrible heritage left 
these natives, as the result of contact with sailors in the early 
days, and augmented by uncleanly habits, are likewise common. 
These diseases are said to yield readily to the treatment afforded 
by these natural health restorers, the hot springs, and it is 
claimed they can, to all appearances, be entirely eradicated from 
the system after a few weeks bathing and drinking the waters of 
these springs. They all possess similar properties, being strongly 
impregnated with iron, sulphur, and magnesia. 

During the Russian occupancy, bath houses were built at 
Sitka springs, and bathing tanks constructed, and natives and 
whites from this portion of the territory frequently visited them. 

Hot springs are also found near lyoring, and others at Hoonah, 
these being more patronized, because they are nearer the settled 
portion of the country. 

The aspect of the country about Bering strait is mountainous, 
but not extremely precipitous. From Cape Prince of Wales, 
another continent, Asia, may be seen, for the Siberian coast is 
plainly visible. Citizens of the United States, and the subjects of 
the Czar of all the Russias, metaphorically speaking, might 
stand on their respective shores, and clasp hands across the nar- 
row channel called Bering strait^ which connects the waters of the 
Arctic ocean with Bering sea. 

This strait is bvit forty-eight miles wide, and the narrow pass- 
age is partially filled b}' Little and Big Diomede islands near the 
middle of the strait. The islands are only two miles apart, and 
the line of demarcation between Alaska and Siberia runs midway 
between them. The shallow water of Bering strait, averaging 
only about twenty-seven fathoms in depth, and the short distance 
between the two continents, give rise to interesting speculation 
concerning the connecting of the eastern and western hemispheres 
by a railroad which would, literally, girdle the world. Fancy 



TOPOGRAPHY. 25 

leaving New York by special limited train, traversing the North 
American continent longitudinally to the great Yukon valley, 
then westward to Bering strait, crossing it with the trans- 
Siberian railwaj' as a connection, and speeding on to St. Peters- 
burg, Paris, London, etc., and this is within the realm of 
possibilit}^ Engineering skill has made rapid progress within a 
decade, and who shall say what the genius of man aided by 
wonderful inventions and electricity will accomplish! 

It will be a physical impossibility to span Bering strait with a 
bridge, owing to the swift current and the vast quantities of ice 
which, in winter, are continually flowing through, and which 
would speedily demolish such a structure. It may be possible, 
however, that the strait could be tunneled, but it is here sug- 
gested — as more practicable — that it could be filled in with 
rock, allowing sufficient openings for the waters to flow through, 
and for vessels to pass, thus forming an adamantine roadway 
between the extreme west and east, as represented bj^ the United 
States and Siberia. 

The mountains that mark the westernmost point of the conti- 
nent at Cape Prince of Wales are rocky and barren, the ledges 
standing upon high pillars, with shattered sides, and uneven sur- 
faces. Towards the base, facing Bering strait, the slope is 
gradual, extending into a low sandy beach reaching out into the 
strait a mile or more and then bearing to the north. Endless 
quantities of rock could be taken from these mountains of solid 
stone and dumped into the strait, until a roadway, similar to the 
great wall of China, but deeper, and broader, and stronger, 
would rise from the bottom of the shallow waters. The expense, 
it is true, would be enormous — and no attempt is here made to 
discuss scientific difficulties in the way — but let it be remem- 
bered that all great engineering projects have been first ridiculed 
and denounced as chimerical, as, witness — the Suez canal, Nica- 
ragua canal, the Panama canal, and other great triumphs of engi- 
neering skill. The practicability of the Panama canal, in which 
the French people invested tens of millions of dollars, though 
yet uncompleted, has been fully demonstrated. To carry so 
gigantic an enterprise to a successful completion unlimited capi- 
tal and labor would be required. In the matter of labor, if white 
men could not be found, twenty-five thousand Eskimos, who are 
indefatigable workers, could be utilized. And should the enter- 



26 ALASKA. 

prise be undertaken jointly, by the governments of the United 
States and Russia, the latter would, no doubt, make use of her 
convicts, as she is now doing in the construction of the trans- 
Siberian railroad. 

Alaska oflFers many inducements for railroad building. The 
physical contour of the country, especially in the interior, pre- 
sents few obstacles, and the numerous valleys afford natural ave- 
nues for the construction of these great highways. The rich 
gold fields, the mighty plains of the Yukon and its many tribu- 
taries, will yet hear the snorting of the iron horse, and the vast 
coal and gold fields, mountains of silver and iron ore, as well as 
many other natural resources of this countrj-, will be opened up 
by the enterprise of the twentieth century. The indomitable 
energy and power of man will yet la}^ this vast country under 
tribute and cause it to yield a golden harvest. 

An all rail route from the new world to the old, across Bering 
strait, would be the connecting link to weld the nations together, 
in the development of commerce and of the untold riches of little 
known portions of the two vast continents. That this would be 
a mammoth undertaking, is not denied, but its possibilit}^ cannot 
be questioned. It is not all fanciful — "the unsubstantial 
pageant of a dream"- — but is rather the living, actual reality, 
that before another quarter of a century has rolled away a great 
international highwaj^ will be opened up and the nations of the 
world will become its patrons. 




CHAPTER III. 



CLIMATE AND AGRICULTURE. 



T^HE beneficent Japan current influences the whole country, 
even as far north as the Kuskoqum river, and has the 
effect of soothing the chraate of the north Bering sea coast. 

Precipitation is very great in the southern coast country. 
The air is cool during the pleasantest time of the ^-ear, in the 
long summer days when the sun shines most. As a rule, it is 
clear but few days in the ^xar ; usualh^ however, in June and 
July, the sun pierces the deep and heavy clouds that settle over 
the mountains, and brightens up the landscape. When the sun 
is obscured, it is liable to rain for days, and sometimes for two 
or three weeks at a time, But rains here are not so cold and 
chilly, as in most countries, where cloud}^ or rainj^ weather pre- 
vails for long periods, and, as a rule, are warm and soft. 

The average rainfall along the coast is not far short of one 
hundred inches a year, and at Unalaska, in 1884, one hvtndred 
and fift3'-five inches was recorded. 

The fall of snow in the coast countr}' is also considerable. At 
times it covers the earth to a depth of three feet on a level, but 
is usually damp, and a snow storm is apt to turn into rain in a 
few hours, causing the huge bank and drifts to disappear. The 
mercury rarely falls to zero in any part of the southern coast 
country, it is more likely to register above freezing point than 
below during the greater part of the winter. 

The climate is much dryer in the interior, rain occurring as 
a rule, only in the spring and summer. In severe showers 
it is sometimes accompanied by fierce thunder and lightning, 
which rarely is known on the coast. 

Probably no other section of this continent presents such a 
diversity of climate as Alaska. The heat of the summer in the 
interior is sometimes intense, often registering over one hundred 
degrees in the shade, and it has been known to burst a spirit, 
thermometer after graduating up to one hundred and twenty. 



28 ALASKA. 

Summer heat, however, is quickly followed by winter cold, and 
the mercury will fall to fifty or sixty degrees below zero. On 
one occassion, at Fort Yukon, it was known to have reached 
seventy degrees below zero. The winter begins about the first 
of October and lasts until the first of June. The mean temper- 
ature during the months of December, January, and February, 
is about twent3^-four degrees below zero. This cold weather and 
long period of winter is felt to within a very few^ miles of the 
coast, or from the point where the mountains are crossed. 

Nothwithstanding the marked variations in the climate, 
Alaska is essentially a healthy country. The only prevailing 
diseases are those of a bronchial nature, and in most cases these 
troubles can be directly traced to imprudent exposure. 

The snow of the interior partakes much of the character of 
frost, sifting slowly down in intensely cold weather until it lies 
several inches deep, light and fluffy; but at times, in warm 
weather, it thaws and settles into a hard crust, affording excellent 
surface for sledding. 

The great precipitation and humidity of the atmosphere in 
Southern Alaska cause the entire coast region to be clothed in a 
mantle of perennial green. Vegetation is dense, and the forests 
magnificent. The soil is rich, though in the heavily timbered 
section, it is shallow ; and from the most eastern point of the 
territory to Kadiak, root crops are easily grown. Radishes, let- 
tuce, carrots, onions, cauliflower, peas, turnips, cabbage, beets, 
celery and potatoes, yield prolificly. On one-sixth of an acre 
at Sitka, eighty bushels of potatoes have been raised. It was, 
however, a plot of ground that had been formerly used by the 
Russians as a garden and was carefully prepared. Strawberries 
grow with the greatest spontaneity, and have a flavor equal to 
those of southern latitudes. Some extensive fields of straw- 
berries are found under the very shadow of the glaciers, both at 
Glacier bay and at Yakutat. Potatoes are grown in most of the 
native villages along the coast countr}^ No system of planting 
is followed, the rule being simply to bury a whole potato in the 
ground and when the vines appear above the surface thin out if 
necessary ; dirt is then heaped in a soft hill with but little of 
the care given this crop by practical farmers. The potatoes 
grown here have an excellent flavor, but are inclined to be watery. 
• The cultivation of the soil by the natives is of the most primi- 
tive character, and that by the whites is carelesslj^ done. 



CLIMATE AND AGRICULTURE. 29 

Oats, barley, and wheat have been grown on the Stikeen river, 
where the cHmate is colder and dryer. The precipitation on the 
coast is so great that it is doubtful if cereals could mature, except 
in a dry season. They grow very rapidly, but run largely to 
stock, and before they can mature, are cut down by frosts or 
mould through dampness. Silos and ensilage would undoubt- 
edly be a success here. Cattle prefer the hay of the country to 
that imported, and if the two are fed to them mixed, they will 
separate the native ha}' and eat it first. 

As soon as the snow has disappeared in the spring, masses of 
herbage spring into life and quickly blossom. Fruits rapidly 
mature and harvest closely follows seed time. It is a surprising 
fact that not only on the coast, but also in the interior, small 
fruits, especially raspberries, blueberries, cranberries and red 
currants everywhere abound. When the sun shines continually 
for twenty-four hours vegetable life is extremely rapid, notwith- 
standing the shortness of the season. 

The capability of the soil of Alaska under a proper s^-stem of 
cultivation, both on the coast and in the interior, remains yet to 
be demonstrated. It is hoped that agricultural experimental 
stations will be established by the government, in the different 
parts of the territory, say — one at Chilkat, one at Kadiak, and one 
in the interior. If this is done intelligent and practical experi- 
ments with the various grains, roots, and grasses suitable to these 
latitudes can be made. In the spring of 1894, the author had the 
honor of appearing before the house committee on agriculture in 
support of establishing stations as above; and a bill appropriating 
fifteen thousand dollars for the purpose was unanimously re- 
ported, but it met with the usual fate of Alaskan measures — was 
never reached on the calendar. From the climatic influences 
known to exist, and the good results achieved b}- the crude, 
tentative experiments already made, one can fairly infer that the 
conditions are favorable for certain kinds of crops which only 
intelligent experimenting will determine. 

Stock raising in Alaska, also, must first be investigated. 
Along the coast the chilly air of fall and v^'inter is ver}' trj-ing, 
and cold rains, snow, sleet and severe winds are all encountert-d. 
Experiments, heretofore made, have not proved entirely satisfac- 
tory. Foot rot in sheep has interfered with this industry, to some 
extent, but experienced stockmen, familiar with the interior of 



30 



ALASKA. 



the territory, are confident that it presents excellent opportunities 
for the successful raising of cattle; and believe it is possible that 
the great interior may, within a very few years, become a feed- 
ing ground for tens of thousands of sheep and cattle. 

The tundra moss-covered regions, suitable for reindeer grazing, 
prevail throughout the whole western coast country, and, in the 
interior, for many miles nutritious grass and moss are everywhere 
found in abundance. 




CHAPTER IV. 



MINERAL AND TIMBER. 



"T^HE first discovery of gold in Southeast Alaska was near 
Sitka, in the 3'ear 1873. It excited much interest in the 
small settlements throughout the southeastern coast, and pros- 
pecting soon commenced in earnest. Miners from the old Cassiar 
region in British Columbia, and the northwest territorj', began 
to push forward into Alaska, and, in the summer of 18S0, gold 
was discovered in the vicinity of Juneau. From this date may 
be reckoned the developments that have reached such large pro- 
portions and drawn the attention of the whole mining interests 
in America to our Alaska possessions. 

The little Indian settlement at the head of Gastineau channel, 
which had rarely seen a white man, was soon enlivened by the 
tents and rude huts of the miners, which were scattered along the 
coast for many miles; and back into the interior went prospectors, 
singly, and in parties of three or more, in search of gold, as very 
strong indications led them to believe, it lay somewhere in this 
vicinit3^ 

Joseph Juneau was the first man to demonstrate the existence 
of gold in this district in any considerable quantities. During 
the earl}^ days of the settlement there seemed a disposition to 
bestow h^nor upon one Richard Harris, a partner of Juneau, by 
naming the first mining town after him. So the town was first 
called Harrisburg, subsequently named Rockwell, in honor of 
one of the officers of the United States steamer Jamestown, then 
located at Sitka; but the inhabitants finally determined to give 
it the name Juneau, which it now bears. 

Gold creek pours its waters down through the deep ravines 
and gorges that extend back from Juneau for four or five miles. 
It is impossible to estimate the yield of gold, but it is safe to say 
that it reached many thousands of dollars. While it was not 
claimed that any great amount was taken out by one individual, 
it is a fact that many men found diggings which paid them hand- 



32 ALASKA. 

somely, and effectually demonstrated that they were in the heart 
of a rich gold region. 

About the time of the first gold excitement at Juneau, the re- 
port was circulated that gold had been found on the top of a 
mountain about two miles across the bay, and it was learned that 
a miner, known in camp by the name of "French Pete," had 
staked off a claim. Mr. John Treadwell was at this time pros- 
pecting in the region, and investigated this location; being con- 
vinced that it would prove good property, he purchased it for the 
sum of $400. By untiring energ\^, and persistent efforts, he de- 
veloped the property, forging his wa}- almost inch by inch. He 
erected first a five stamp mill. The result was so promising that 
he found little trouble in organizing a company with capital suf- 
ficient to erect a one hundred and twenty stamp mill, which, 
seven years after the first discovery, was enlarged to two hundred 
and forty stamps, and the largest mill in the world was soon 
pounding out gold. For the past seven years there has hardly 
been a break in the rattle of the machinery or the booming of the 
heavy charges of dynamite, as they are echoed and re-echoed 
over the channel to the town of Juneau. Daj^ and night during 
this whole period, with the exception of the Fourth of July and 
Christmas, and, perhaps, one or two other days in the year, it has 
never been known to stop. In calling this the greatest mill in 
the world, we mean that it is full}' equipped in every department 
pertaining to a well regulated and efficient working property; 
and although the ore is known as very low grade, estimated by 
some as Aneldiiig only $1.85 in bullion to the ton of ore, the gold 
output from this mine since the full two hundred and forty stamps 
have been in operation has reached the sum of $70,000 or $80,000 
per month. • 

While the discovery of this rich ledge awakened a widespread 
interest in Alaska, it was also the means of effecting the organ- 
ization of a company which perpetrated a swindle aggregating 
several hundred thousand dollars. A claim adjoining the great 
Treadwell mine, and represented to be fully as promising, was 
located, after a supposed thorough and careful system of pros- 
pecting. German and English capitalists were induced to take 
hold of it; tunnels were run, machinery erected, and everything 
made ready to start the operation of a huge plant, when it was 
discovered that the claim had been "salted." Work stopped at 



MINERAL AND TIMBER. 33 

once, and the mining world was startled by the announcement 
that the Bear's Nest mine in Alaska was a gigantic swindle. This 
threw cold water upon the mining development of Alaska for a 
period of three or four years, and no matter how promising a 
claim it could not be negotiated at any price. Capitalists look- 
ing for investments were afraid to venture into Alaska. The 
rumor, too, became current that the Treadwell mine was a mere 
"blowout" or pocket, where, by a singular freak of nature, a lot 
of gold had been dumped in one huge pile, and that it would 
never be found in paying quantities anywhere else in the countr3\ 

During this time, however, a number of men who had followed 
mining camps from the earliest days of California up through 
Oregon, into the Cariboo and Cassiar regions of British Columbia, 
finally drifted into Alaska, and believed the}' were 3'et within the 
mineral belt. Their entire energy and every dollar they could 
command were expended in the development of mining claims 
that were staked out in many places along the coast of South- 
eastern Alaska, and the result of their work has shown that their 
confidence was not misplaced. Without entering into a detailed 
or tedious enumeration of the different camps or claims which 
have been prospected successfully, it is sufficient to say that all 
through the Southeastern Alaska coast to the end of the inland 
channel or tourist route, at the very gates of the Pacific ocean, 
wherein lies America's Venice, gold and rich deposits of silver 
and galena ore are found. To the energy and steadfast belief of 
a few of the old settlers in Sitka is due in no small degree the 
credit of establishing the fact that the gold belt of California and 
the Western Territories was not riven asunder when it reached 
the coast range; and when the mountains that tower behind the 
capital at Sitka are made to yield up the ore that lies buried in 
their innermost recesses, we believe it will prove to be as rich as 
an}' )-et discovered in this country. 

In several places on Prince of Wales island, and north on 
Annette island, a number of excellent locations have been found 
where free gold is scattered among the rocks. Within the past 
few months prospectors have located claims, the assays of which 
indicate large and rich depo.'?its of gold. The prospectors for 
silver, four or five years ago, met with good success, but on 
account of the depreciation in value of this metal the search for 
it has been almost entirel}- abandoned, 
3 



34 ALASKA. 

Passing north towards Juneau, at Sum Duni, is located the 
Bald Eagle mining claim, ■which after being thoroughly pros- 
pected was sold a few months ago for many thousands of dollars. 
The present season is seeing the erection of a ten-stamp mill at 
this place; the owners feel fully justified in the expenditure 
because the ore shipments from this mine to the Puget Sound 
smelting works promise rich results. The ore is valued at up- 
wards of one hundred dollars per ton. Northward, within four 
miles of Juneau, at Sheep creek, the Silver Queen mine is 
located and a ten-stamp mill in operation. Adjoining, claims 
have, during the past four j-ears, been prospected, until the 
probabilities are that this will be the seat of active and extended 
operations the coming 3-ear. Within a radius of four miles of 
Juneau, besides the great Treadwell mine, there are eight mills 
in operation and the output is such as to encourage the com- 
panies in extended and most active prosecution in the work of 
development. 

Gold creek, which comes down through the mountains north 
of Juneau, and flows into the ba}^ in a rushing torrent of water, 
drains about four miles of country, and upon both sides the 
rugged mountains seems to be interwoven by rich ledges of gold 
quartz. Six stamp mills are constantly at work eight months of 
the year, and the coming season will see the beginning of develop- 
ment by the erection of mills on several other claims. A num- 
ber of placer claims have been successfully operated there for 
a number of 3'ears, and at what is known as the " basin " many 
thousands of dollars have been spent in getting ready to operate 
by hydraulic machinery what promises to be valuable property. 

Across the bay adjoining the great Treadwell mine, at what 
is known as the Mexico mine, a sixt3'-stamp mill is in operation 
which will be enlarged by an addition of sixt}- more this coming 
season. To the east of that is the Ready Bullion, and a two 
hundred-stamp mill will be operated the coming year; these two 
claims are owned or controlled by the company that owns the 
great Treadwell mine. 

Towards Lynn canal, sixty miles from Juneau, the Berner's 
Bay mining property shows indications that the richness and 
quantity of this ore will prove as great as any j-et found. On 
Admiralty island, at Funta bay, also, is a group of what will 
probabl}' prove one of the richest mining camps in the whole of 
Southeast Ala.ska. A number of ledges are found that contain 



MINERATv AND TIMBER. 35 

rich ore and rock, which, when pounded out from any of these 
ledges, yield in every instance exceptionally rich deposits of gold 
in the bottom of the pan. 

At Glacier bay there are many strong indications of silver, the 
veins being easily traced along the sides of the mountains, which 
are entirely nude of vegetation. On Willoughby island, in par- 
ticular, there are rich galena deposits, and up to the time of the 
depreciation of silver extensive preparations were made to de- 
velop several of these properties. At the extreme end of Glacier 
bay are very rich deposits, in which native silver has been found 
among galena. The owners are carefully doing their assessment 
work each year and w^aiting for silver to appreciate so as to re- 
sume operations. 

Passing outside of the waters of the inland canal into the 
North Pacific, rich mineral indications are found along the coast 
at Lituya bay. Rich deposits of rub}^ and black sand stretch 
along the coast for many miles towards Kakutat. The quality 
of the gold found in this region is fine, but amalgamates readily, 
and is easily saved by careful sluicing. Although there has been 
considerable work in this region at placer mining during the past 
four or five years, there seems to be quite an extensive range of 
country yet unworked, or, for that matter, unprospected. Prac- 
tical miners who have investigated this portion of the coast 
believe that a rich and extensive mining section will here be 
opened up. There is no doubt that gold exists in Cook inlet, 
but to what extent remains to be determined. 

The early Russian settlers are known to have worked at placer 
mining at Cook inlet, but as yet prospecting to any great extent 
has not been done in this region. 

For the past four or five 5-ears prospecting has been carried 
on at Unga, on the island of that name, and the work has been 
thorough and extensive. A ten stamp mill was first erected, and 
last year the capacity increased to forty stamps, and the Alaska 
Commercial Company, who own the property, feel satisfied that 
they have a mine which it will take many years to exhaust, 
and that will prove a paying investment. This section of Alaska 
has every indication of rich mineral deposits, but when it is con- 
sidered that the white settlements are very scarce, the means of 
communication with the outside world very uncertain, and the 
cost of provisions and supplies very expensive, it is not to be 



36 ALASKA. 

wondered that .so little has been done and so little known of the 
resources of this vast countr5^ 

At Golofnin bay, Norton sound, some ten years ago, indica- 
tions of rich galena deposits were found. The discoverer returned 
to San Francisco with a few samples of the ore, the assay of 
which proved to be very rich. A schooner was fitted out and 
sent there the following season, and in due time was loaded down 
with the ore; but soon after leaving the bay a severe storm was 
encountered, and when last seen by the natives on shore she was 
laboring in a heavy sea, and nothing more was ever heard of her. 
Subsequently another vessel was fitted out and considerable ore 
was taken to San Francisco, which proved so rich that a com- 
pan}' was organized and in 1 891-2 $60,000 was expended on the 
mine. Another large quantity of ore was shipped to San Fran- 
cisco, which proved to be as rich as any heretofore taken from 
this mine, but on account of difficulty among the members of the 
company work on the property was abandoned. It is understood, 
however, that the qualit}' and quantity of ore found here are 
sufficient to pay a handsome profit for its shipment to San Fran- 
cisco, even at the present price of this metal. It is expected the 
company will resume operations on an extensive scale this coming 
season. 

The only indications of mineral to any extent north of this 
point are those reported by Lieutenant Stone}-, who spent 
two or three 3'ears in the region of Kotzebue sound some years 
ago; he having found gold along the Selawik and Buckland 
rivers. Last summer the author saw an Eskimo near Fort Mor- 
ton who had in his possession fully an ounce of course gold, tied 
up in seal skin, which he had found on the Kowak river. 

Southeastern Alaska is well timbered, the prevailing varieties 
being spruce and hemlock, red and yellow cedar. The spruce 
and hemlock found here are usually of large size, often a hun- 
dred feet high and six and aight feet in diameter. The yellow 
cedar is a beautiful wood, admitting high polish, and isespeciallj^ 
adapted for manufacture of furniture. It may easily take the 
place of mahogau}' and other tropical and sub-tropical woods. 
The yellow cedar grows many feet in height, straight and clear, 
without any defect whatsoever. The wood, when poli.shed, pre- 
sents a beautiful yellowish hue and is hard and compact, though 
easily worked. Little is known of the extent of the yellow 
cedar, l)ut no doubt explorations will discover considerable areas 



MINERAL AND TIMBER. 37 

of this valuable wood. From vSitka westward, the forests become 
scrubby and the timber small in size, but alder and willow are 
found in many places. The timber line extends to a height of 
about fifteen hundred feet. The timber along the lower portion 
of the Yukon is composed principally of willow, alder and cotton- 
wood. Towards Norton sound, it grows to a fair size. Spruce 
is also found, as a rule, on most streams emptying into the Yukon 
river and Bering's sea. The rivers entering the Arctic as far 
north as latitude sixty-seven degrees are more or less timbered 
with the same variety. Along Wood river there are some fine 
groves of large spruce timber, and back in the interior, and along 
the banks of the rivers and on level stretches of country, fir tim- 
ber is also found to considerable extent. Dwarf-spruce, cotton- 
wood, alder and willow, are also found in the Nushagaic and 
Kuskoqum regions. The willow usually found along the coast 
west of Mt. St. Elias is scrubby, but in the moraines of that 
mountain and along the delta of the Copper river it grows to a 
height of fifteen or twenty feet. In the vicinity of the Noatuk 
river, in latitude sixty-seven degrees north, spruce, birch and 
Cottonwood are found of a stunted growth, fit only for fire wood 
and the construction of log houses. 

In the Yukon country, from Five Fingers all the way to 
Koserefski mission, on the Yukon, the timber growing along the 
banks is principally willow, alder and spruce, the latter being the 
prevailing variety. It is generally scrubby but many good sized 
trees are found. The islands in the river from Five Fingers to 
the mouth of the Yukon are generally well timbered, the larger 
islands being better wooded than the main land. 

The coal resources of Alaska are lying dormant because the 
time does not seem to have arrived for the necessity of the opening 
up of the mines. A number of small veins or seams have been 
found on several of the islands in the Southeastern Alaskan 
country. Those which, perhaps so far have attracted the most 
attention, are on Chicagofif island near Killisnoo, where every 
indication promises an extensive deposit. All the]^coal found in 
Alaska is bituminous, and of a very good quality. Deposits have 
been found on the headwaters of the Chilkat river, Lituya baj^ 
Cook inlet, Uuga island and Port Mollar. The most extensive 
coal fields or deposits are in the Cook inlet countrj^ ^cropping 
out on the beaches, and along many of the streams. Unga island 
has three distinct veins of coal extending a distance of two miles 



38 ALASKA. 

Upon the sides of the mountains, each of them being several feet 
thick. Some work has been clone here within the last few years 
and government vessels have experimented with the coal, but 
find it contains a considerable amount of ashes and clinker. 
Doubtless when a greater depth is reached it will improve in 
quality. North of Unga island, about ten miles inland from 
Stepovak bay, is a trail or portage about ten miles long leading 
to Herendeen ba}-, at Port Mollar, on the Bering sea side. An 
excellent quality of coal is found here in large quantities. The 
Alaska Commercial Compan}^ the principal owners of the mine, 
have shipped considerable coal to their station at Unalaska ; and 
its quality, both for steaming and house purposes, is found to be 
superior to that found at Unga. 

Extensive coal fields exist at Cape Li.sburne, on the Arctic 
side, extending for thirty or forty miles parallel with the coast 
and for a number of miles back into the interior. It is of a lignite 
character, and the gov^ernment vessels Corwin and Thetis have 
taken coal for steaming purposes from here, and have found an 
excess of ash and clinker, which seems to be the general fault 
with all coal thus far discovered in Alaska. Strong indications 
of petroleum are found back from the coast a few miles, in this 
cold Arctic region, and also between Icy bay and Cape Yaktaga. 
On the North Pacific coast, west of Yakutat bay, there are ex- 
tensive deposits or indications of petroleum. Practically all the 
coal used by vessels navigating the Alaskan waters and in the 
mills and towns of Alaska is brought from the Puget Sound 
country and British Columbia. It is bought at the mines for 
about three dollars per ton, and the expense of shipping to the 
Southern Alaska ports is five or six dollars per ton. The expense 
of opening up a coal mine is so great that until there is a large 
demand in Alaska, it is doubtful if any of the mines will be 
worked. 



CHAPTER V. 



FISHERIES. 




"T^HE fish industry of Alaska 
is destined to assume 
immense proportions. 

Upon the authority of 
Professor Bean, of the United 
States Fish Commission, 
more than one hundred va- 
rieties of fish are found in 
the Alaskan waters. Sal- 
mon, ranking first in im- 
portance, is found in great 
numbers in the streams from 
the lower extremity of South- 
east Alaska to the Arctic ocean. The most favored varieties are 
those known as the red or silver salmon, weighing from eight to 
twelve or fifteen pounds each, and the king salmon often weigh- 
ing as high as fifty pounds. The latter variety is found only in 
a few localities in Southeast Alaska and in the Yukon, many 
miles above its mouth. It is said that specimens have been 
caught weighing over one hundred and twenty pounds. 

The first salmon cannery in Alaska was erected in 1878, and 
at the present time there are thirty-six, most of them are in 
operation each season. 

The growth of this industry was extremely rapid, canneries 
being constructed at a cost of from fifty thousand to one hundred 
and twenty thousand dollars each. Enormous profits gave rise 
to much speculation, but it was found that the supply of canned 
salmon when the canneries were run at their fullest capacity was 
too great for the demand. 

In 1892, a combination or trust was formed, which resiilted in 
closing down several canneries, but the owners came into a gen- 



40 ALASKA. 

eral pool and received a pro rata interest in the proceeds arising 
from the packs of the canneries in operation. Some of these can- 
neries have a capacity of from forty thousand to sixty thousand 
cases each year, and when it is understood that a single case 
contains four dozen one pound cans, and that in the year 1889 
the combined pack of all the canneries was nearly seven hundred 
thousand cases, an idea can be formed of the vast number of 
salmon caught. 

It is unusual for more than one establishment to be found on 
any salmon stream, but at Karluk, on the northwest side of 
Kadiak island, a small stream not exceeding sixty feet wide at 
its mouth, there are five canneries, and the salmon seem inex- 
haustible. The river at its mouth, and for a long distance out 
into the salt water, during the spawning season, when the salmon 
are on their wa}^ to the lakes above for the purpose of depositing 
their eggs, seems to be fairly swarming with these fish. Thej^ 
fill the water to such extent as to almost dam it up, and those 
below, in their eagerness to ascend the river, crowd those on top 
so that their fins and part of their body are exposed to view. The 
first season I beheld the sight I thought an appropriate name 
would be the " River of Life." 

While it will not be fair to charge these canning companies 
with being directly antagonistic to the settlement and develop- 
ment of Alaska, it is true that their influence has alwa^'S been 
exerted in that direction. It has been the practice of these cor- 
porations to bring all their help from outside the territory. Not 
only are their fishermen brought from the Pacific coast States, 
but the entire canning force — and each establishment employs 
from forty to seventy-five men — are Chinamen. There are two 
exceptions, however, where the natives do most of the work of 
canning salmon, namely, at Klawak and New Metlakahtla. 

It requires no special skill to catch salmon, yet it has been the 
custom of these canneries to bring white men into the country in 
the spring, for the purpose, and take them back to their home 
when the fishing season ended. It has been also the practice to 
pay the men for their season's work after they have reached 
their homes, thus, not only taking the product of the streams 
away without paying a dollar for it, but depriving the territory 
of the benefit resulting from the labor therein, which would con- 
tribute in no small way to the support and upbuilding of the 
country. If these industries would employ white men altogether 



FISHERIES. 41 

it would bring into the countr}^ manj^ who might identify them- 
selves with it in some waj'-, during the months the canneries are 
idle. Again, in the packing of salted salmon, the interests of 
the countr}^ are not considered. Fully seven thousand barrels, 
each weighing two hundred pounds, are prepared for the market 
each year. 

In the preparation of salmon an enormous quantit}' of boxes 
are used, but the sawmills of the territory are not patronized. 
For the material is imported and the boxes are put together as 
they are needed, though they might be manufactured in the coun- 
try of as good quality of timber, at less cost, than they are fur- 
nished under the present system. 

Southeast Alaska is covered with a dense growth of spruce, 
hemlock and cedar, which should be a source of income and a 
means of employment for a large number of men, but it is Ijnng 
dormant because one of the great industries of the territory does 
not deem it proper to encourage manufactures within its borders. 

The liberty these canneries take in catching fish without re- 
striction is a feature of this subject which is liable to be of great 
importance to the people who will in time inhabit Alaska, as well 
as to the many thousands of natives, who have, from the earliest 
periods, subsisted upon fish food. Restriction should have been 
imposed upon them a number of years ago. Some of the can- 
neries have erected traps at the mouths of the different streams, 
and few salmon are permitted to escape. It will not be .difficult 
to understand, therefore, that in a few years streams thus ob- 
structed must become exhausted, unless some means are adopted 
to prevent this wholesale destruction. 

Two years ago Congress passed a bill forbidding the construc- 
tion of traps, and sending officers into the territory to execute 
the law, but failing to make an appropriation, of course the law 
was inoperative. 

Alaskan codfish iudustr}' promises to become extensive in the 
near future. Cod are found in large quantities along the Aleutian 
chain of islands, as far west as the Alexandria archipelago, and 
in a general way they may be said to exist along the whole south- 
ern coast of Alaska. 

In the vicinity of the Kadiak group of islands, and still further 
south to the Sim.eonoff", and at the Shumagin group, about the 
islands of Magipopf and Unga, cod are found in great abundance. 
In Bering sea, towards the lower Siberian shore, they are also 



42 ALASKA. 

found in large quantities. Two San Francisco firms are the only 
parties engaged in the catching and shipment of cod at the pres- 
ent time, but the)' seem to have developed the business sufficiently 
to meet the demand, for they have a number of vessels each season 
employed in the traffic. The manner of fishing is usually from 
dories. The fishermen are paid at the rate of $25 for every 
thousand fish caught, and they are to measure at least twenty- 
six inches in length. If smaller fish are accepted^ saj^ measuring 
from twenty-four to twenty-six, two fish are counted as one. So 
it will be seen, that these fish are caught with considerable ease 
and in great quantities, in order to pay the fishermen $50 per 
month, the amount they expect to make from the cruise. 

Next in importance to the cod ranks the halibut, which is 
found in vast quantities in the waters of the inland canal, among 
the more shallow waters of the North Pacific, and in some por- 
tions of Bering sea. They often weigh two hundred or more 
pounds, and one of the pleasures of tourists is catching these fish 
from the deck of the steamer while lying at some station. 

The halibut is a staple article of diet, both fresh and dried, 
with the natives, and it is said that the Alaskan halibut will 
compare favorably, if they do not excel, those caught on the 
Atlantic coast. 

A fishing concern in Sitka has recently put up a limited 
amount of smoked halibut, and it has proven a most delicious 
article of food. Very little effort has yet been made to force the 
sale, but the curing of halibut in this way may ultimatel}- prove 
one of the leading industries of this country. 

There are immense schools of herring in most of the inland 
waters or estuaries of Alaska, and they too form an important 
element of the food supply of the natives. The greatest supply 
is found at Killisnoo, on the west side of Admiralty island, where, 
some twelve years ago, the largest fish oil plant in the world was 
erected. Herring are caught by means of seins, and a single haul 
of twenty-five hundred barrels has been taken. After the oil is 
pressed from the fish, the refuse is put up as a fertilizer and 
shipped, principally to the Sandwich islands. 

The oolikon or candle fish are also found in the inland chan- 
nels, and in some localities of the North Pacific coast They are 
a species of smelt, and are about eight inches long and almost 
round. They are so oily, that after being dried, they can be 
lighted and will burn completel}- up, throwing a glare like a 



FISHERIES. 43 

candle, as their name implies. The natives use these fish in 
greater numbers perhaps than any other variety. When boiled, 
they have a delicious flavor and are tender and delightfully 
sweet. The oil is considered a rare delicacy b}- the natives, and 
quite an industry is carried on among those living in localities 
far remote from this fish supply. 

Most of the varieties of fish found on the Pacific coast, together 
with clams, mussels, and crabs, are found in great abundance in 
all the waters of Alaska, but oysters do not exist, probably on 
account of the low temperature of the water. 

The species of whale known as the beluga or white grampus 
is native in the deep waters and has been known to ascend some 
of the larger rivers. The skin of this mammal is employed by 
the natives in the manufacture of rope, straps and soles of boots. 

The hair seal are found in great numbers in the waters 
throughout the whole territory, and, as is well known, constitute 
the principal food supply of the natives, and especially is this 
true in the northern waters. They delight to frequent the waters 
of Glacier bay, and the natives hunt them much easier among 
the bergs of ice than in the waters of the ocean. A white cloth 
is spread over the bow of the canoe, giving it the appearance of 
a piece of ice, and the natives dressed in jacket and hat of the 
same material, paddling among the ice, thus they are often 
enabled to get within arms length of their prey before it detects 
the deception. 

The walrus, a native of Bering sea and the Arctic, travels in 
herds, and in the long days of summer may be seen in large 
numbers lying lazil}- on the ice. The skin of this animal is used 
by the natives as covering for their boats, and the tusks are 
worked up into implements of the chase and hunt, but it is fast 
disappearing before civilization. 

Whale are found in all the deep waters, and even in the inland 
passages they may be seen sporting. It is not uncommon for 
schools of the black whale to be seen from the decks of the tour- 
ist steamers. While they cannot be properl}' considered as one 
of the resources of Alaska, still in the northern or Arctic region, 
they have formed one of the most important food supplies of the 
natives, but they are now becoming scarce. As on account of the 
high price of bone, whale hunting with steam vessels has been 
prosecuted with vigor, and in a few years they are destined to 
become extinct. 



44 



ALASKA. 



Upwards of seventy-five vessels are now engaged in the 
whaling bnsiness, and they mnst penetrate several miles above 
Bering strait before they encounter an 5^ of them. The business 
is hazardous and great risks must be run. In the summer of 
1877 nearly fifty vessels were lost, and a number of crews 
perished, preferring to remain on the vessels rather than risk 
making their way across the sea to land. This catastrophe led 
the government to establish a rescue station at Point Barrow, the 
most northern point of Alaska, which is provisioned with sup- 
plies sufficient to last one hundred men a year. It is in charge 
of a government official whose duty it is to render aid and succor 
to shipwrecked sailors. 




CHAPTER VI. 



ROUTE TO THE YUKON RIVER. 



T^HE head of steamboat navigation is at Ty-a, at the extreme 
northern point of what is known as the Chilkoot inlet branch 
of Lynn canal. The distance from salt water to the lakes or 
headwaters of the Yukon river, on the other side of the mountain 
range, is about twenty-seven miles. 

The usual place for laying in supplies for a trip into the in- 
terior is at Juneau, where the route to the gold fields of the 
Yukon may be said to commence. 

The quantity of supplies must be determined by the size of 
one's purse, but in no case should the journey be attempted 
without a supply sufficient to last at least two months. The fol- 
lowing list is about the assortment one needs: Flour, bacon, 
baking powder, beans, dried fruit, desiccated vegetables, butter, 
sugar, condensed milk, tea, coffee, salt, pepper, matches, mus- 
tard, cooking utensils, dishes, sheet-iron stove, woolen blankets, 
rubber blankets, oilskin bags, tools for boat building, such as 
jack-plane, whipsaw, draw-knife, axe, hatchet, pocket rule, 
nails, oakum, pitch, rope, mosquito netting, rubber boots, snow 
glasses, and medicines. 

T5"-a affords the last opportunity for purchasing supplies 
for several hundred miles. This point may be reached either on 
the mail steamer to Chilkat, and thence by small boat to Ty-a, a 
journey of about twenty-five miles; or direct from Juneau by 
small sailing craft or steamers that make trips as often as there 
are passengers to carry. 

Miners generally employ natives to pack supplies across the 
mountain, the usual charge for this work being from $12.00 to 
$14.00 per one hundred pounds, and the distance is about twenty- 
seven miles. This great expense renders it advisable to carry 
only such supplies as will last during the trip. 

For manj^ years the Alaska Commercial Company have had 



46 ALASKA. 

trading posts at Fort}' Mile and other points, but the emigration 
has been so great within the past three years that a new company 
known as the North American Trading and Transportation Com- 
pany, established quarters a half mile north of Forty Mile called 
Fort Cudahy, and the competition between the two companies 
has very much reduced the expense of living in the interior. 

The most favorable time for going into the interior is before 
the snow melts from the mountains, which does not occur until 
about the middle of April. The abrupt passages and what is 
known as the Summit, are better accomplished by hauling sup- 
plies on sleds. After the summit is passed, if the journey is con- 
tinued before the ice breaks up, it often happens that long 
distances may be made by means of sails raised on improvised 
masts on the sled. The sledge should be about seven feet four 
inches long, seven inches high and sixteen inches wide, of strong 
but light timber, and the runners shod with either brass or steel, 
the former being preferable, because the sled will glide over the 
snow more smoothly in intensely cold weather, while steel is 
inclined to grind and lug very much as if it were being hauled 
over sand. When the weather is cold, if water is taken into the 
mouth and held a moment, then blown over the runner, a coating 
will immediately form, and if this process is repeated when it 
becomes a little worn off, one will be surprised to find how much 
smoother and easier the sled will draw. It is preferable to use 
the Eskimo mode of making sledges for Yukon traveling. They 
use no nails or bolts, binding the joints together with strong 
cords. There is much less danger in breaking, if made in this 
way, should the sled be overturned, as the joints will yield when 
thus tied together. After the ice has disappeared canoes are 
used for the first six miles after leaving Ty-a, From this point 
the route lies through what is known as the canyon. Quite a 
steep ascent is made until Sheep Camp is reached. Here a rest 
is taken to await favorable weather before attempting a passage 
over the summit, about eight miles further up the rugged sides 
of the mountain, and the most difficult and tedious part of the 
journey. From the summit to the head of L,akeL,inderman, nine 
miles must be traveled. It is down grade, and practically easy 
to accomplish with snow on the ground, but when bare it is quite 
difficult on account of rocks and boulders. This portion of the 
route is easily accomplished by following the canyon. 

Lake Linderman, the first water reached after passing over 



ROUTE TO THE YUKON RIVER. 47 

the summit, is one of a chain of lakes and streams called by the 
miners the "headwaters of the Yukon," though British authori- 
ties describe them as the headwaters of I^ewis river. 

The timber in this locality is sparse, of a poor qualit)^ and 
suitable only for rafts. A raft should be constructed in a manner 
that will afford protection from water a foot or more above the 
sides, otherwise the supplies are liable to be damaged, and they 
should be carefully enclosed in oilskin sacks at the outset of the 
journey. ' 

From the head of Lake Linderman, on both sides to Lake 
Bennett, the general character of the country is mountainous, 
with narrow benches skirting the shore. The distance across 
Lake I^inderman is nearly five miles, and from the foot of this 
lake about fifty yards of a portage is made of the one mile river. 
to Lake Bennett, because this stream is very crooked and full of 
rocks, making boat passage difficult and dangerous. 

At the head of Lake Bennett, there are high mountains on both 
sides, but they begin to flatten out toward the foot of the lake. 
This journey, a distance of twenty-four miles, may be continued 
by a raft or by ascending a river, small in size, which enters the 
lake from the west. Here timber suitable for boat building is to 
be found. The right-hand side of Lake Bennett should be fol- 
lowed until Cariboo crossing is reached. At this crossing, which 
is really the connecting w^ater between Lake Bennett and Lake 
Tagish, for a distance of two miles a trail used by bands of cariboo 
can be traced along the foothills, hence the name. From Cariboo 
crossing past the main channel to head of Tagish lake keep left- 
hand shore to foot, a distance of nineteen miles. Lake Marsh, 
or Mud lake, is connected with Tagish lake by a wide river with 
a slow current, whose banks are bordered with low-lying slopes, 
timbered by cotton wood and white spruce. The distance is six 
miles, and in some places»the water is verj- shallow. The trav- 
eler should follow the left bank of Lake Marsh into the river 
connecting this with Lake Le Barge, keeping on the right-hand 
side, to the head of the canyon twenty five miles below. If a 
man is a skillful navigator he can run his boat through the can- 
yon a distance of three-fourths of a mile and land on the right- 
hand side. If not, he had better make a portage. From this 
point he should follow the left-hand side two miles to the head 
of White Horse rapids, and land on the left-hand side. Great 
caution should be exercised in reaching the point where the land- 



4S ALASKA. 

ing is made this side of the White Horse. Through the White 
Horse one-half mile, in a low stage of water, the boat can be 
dropped with a line, but if the water is high, a portage of about 
one hundred yards must be made, and on the last pitch of the 
can3-on another short portage of about one hundred feet will be 
necessar}'. From this point there is an open river to Lake Le 
Barge. 

From the head to the foot of Lake Le Barge is a distance of 
about thirt3'-one miles and it averages five miles wide. The boat 
should be headed right straight for an island near the center of 
the lake and, if the weather is favorable, cross from island to right- 
hand side of lake. From the island, the traveler should cross to 
the left-hand side of the lake if windy, and it is better to follow 
close to the shore. From the foot of Lake Le Barge to the mouth 
of the Hootalinqua river, about thirty miles, the water is very 
swift with many rocks, and extreme caution should be observed 
in navigating this portion of Thirty Mile river. From this 
point it is clear sailing for one hundred and thirty-three miles to 
Five Fingers, so-called because of five columns of rock which 
partly obstruct the river, and whose outline resemble the fingers 
of the human hand. Five or six miles before reaching Five 
Fingers, the current becomes much swifter, and high hills hug 
the shore. The right-hand bank should be followed closely ; 
otherwise, the bend curves so sharply that Five Fingers would 
be reached and a landing could not be effected. This landing 
should be made twenty yards above Five Fingers in an eddy, 
and if the boat is heavily loaded it should be lightened before 
attempting to pass. The run should then be made, landing on 
the right-hand side. Following the right hand shore all the way 
for about five miles, Rink rapids, one and a half miles in length 
(caused by a chain of rocks reaching nearly across the river), are 
reached. The right-hand side or east shore must be followed 
closely all the way. From this point the river is easy to navigate 
to its mouth. About fifty-five miles below the foot of Rink rapids, 
old P'ort Selkirk is reached. It is situated near the confluence of 
Pelly and Lewis rivers. Here a trading post is run by an old- 
timer named Harper, and this is also a winter port for steam- 
boats plying on the Yukon and its tributaries. The fort was 
pillaged and burned by coast Indians in 1853, and ruins of what 
once were chimneys only being seen. 

From old Fort Selkirk the river has a uniform width, contains 




Yukon Miners Sledding Over Route. 

Winter & Pond, Photo, Juneau, Alaska 



ROUTE TO THE YUKON RIVER. 49 

mail}' islands, aud the country through which it runs is well tim- 
bered for some distance. The White river, a large stream hav- 
ing a ten or twelve mile current, comes roaring down from the 
west ninety-five miles from Selkirk. This river gets it name from 
the appearance of its waters which are of a muddy white hue. 
It is supposed to have its source in a number of high mountains 
and lakes to the west. Near its source, the Indians say, there is 
an active volcano which they call Smoky Mountain. 

The Yukon rapidly widens after being joined by the White 
river, and becomes a mile wide, islands dot its surface at frequent 
intervals, and the valley, too, becomes broader as if in sympathy 
with the river. Ten miles below the White, the Stewart river 
enters from the east. Its waters dark and deep are bordered by 
rugged hills which here and there assume the proportion of 
mountains. Miners are found on many parts of this river and 
its hundreds of miles of tributaries and gulches, many of which 
are unprospected It is probably four hundred miles in length. 

About seventy miles below the mouth of Stewart river. Sixty 
Mile creek, the next place of note, comes in from the west. It 
has a trading post and a sawmill, and is the headquarters of 
some five score miners who generally spend the winter months 
there. It has a swift current, and is filled with rapids, and is 
therefore not easy of ascent. Below Sixty Mile creek the Yukon 
becomes placid and the number of islands increase. The valley 
narrows, and the hills become more abrupt, while on ever}^ hand 
abundant evidence of quartz croppings can be obtained. 

The next stream of note is the Forty Mile creek which flows 
into the Yukon a few miles west of the boundary line. 

At the junction of Forty Mile creek with the Yukon, is located 
almos-t within the shadow of the Arctic Circle, the Alaska Com- 
mercial Company's station, Forty Mile. It has been for a num- 
ber of years under the control of a man known by every person 
who has passed through the valley of the Yukon as "Jack" 
McOuestion. Of marked ability, and a man of the world, he has 
been the mainstay, the guide, the philosopher and friend of the 
miners, and is held by them in high esteem. Many an unfortu- 
nate prospector is aided by him, and seldom does he refuse an 
appeal for credit. A genial, friendly disposition, with a heart 
"as big as an ox," he is ever ready to extend a helping hand, 

4 



50 ALASKA. 

and all that is necessary to get a supply of food is to show a 
disposition to work. The town has a population of five or six 
hundred, and besides the Alaska Commercial Company's store, 
which, at the opening of the season carries a stock of goods 
valued at $125,000, there are restaurants, billiard halls, several 
saloons, an opera house, barber shops, and the town boasts of the 
finest residence in a region embracing three hundred thousand 
square miles of territory. It is a two-story Iniilding owned b}- 
Joseph Cooper, an old Colorado miner, and cost $3,000. 

The price of restaurant board is $12 per week, and whisky 
costs $9 a gallon, or fifty cents per glass over the bar. "This 
town on the Yukon," says a recent writer, " is an ideal '49 min- 
ing camp ; its saloons, gambling houses, concert halls, etc., give 
it an air of bustling activity, from which, however, the element 
of outlawr}^ is almost entirely eliminated. Miners' law prevails, 
and justice is fairly and impartiall}^ administered. The entire 
Yukon valley bears an enviable reputation for peace and mor- 
ality. Simple, but effective self adopted rules of goverment 
are found amply sufficient to insure order, and the}' are universally 
respected." 

About three-fourths of a mile below Forty Mile post, is a new 
and enterprising town named after Cudahy, so well known through- 
out the countr}' as the packer of meats, and who is a member of 
the North American Transportation and Trading Conipau}-, bet- 
ter known in the Yukon valley as " Captain Healy's Company." 
This post was established in the summer of 1892. In size, 
population, and general business activity, and in the volume of 
business done, it is a duplicate of its neighbor. Captain Heah- has 
established a number of posts on the river not heretofore covered 
by the Alaska Commercial Company. It is safe to say that these 
two concerns will control, for a long time, the major ponion of the 
traffic of this country. Captain Healy is one of the best known 
pioneers of Alaska, having established and done a large business 
for a number of years, principally with the natives at the head of 
the Chilkoot arm of Lynn canal, where he established the trading 
post known as Ty-a. The able assistant in the management of 
Fort Cudah}', Mr. Charles Hamilton, went into this far off coun- 
tr}' fresh from one of the government departments at Washington. 
In the fall of 1892, the company's river boat was detained by ice 
at Xulato, a short distance above the mouth of the Yukon. It 
became necessar\' to communicate with the head office at Chicago, 







■t/r 



'^ A 



v^ 






^^v.^^ 



■#■ 







■v». 



,-^' 



Yukon Minp:rs Packing Over Route. 

Winter & Pond, Photo, Juneau, Alaska. 



ROUTE TO THE YUKON RIVER. 51 

and Mr. Hamilton undertook to make the trip the whole length 
of this river with dogs ; in about four months he succeeded in 
reaching the coast at the head of Lynn canal. It was a most 
remarkable trip ; and he is the only man who is entitled to the 
credit of having, — as a newspaper saw fit to express it, — "split 
the continent squarely in two." The next spring he went over- 
land to Forty Mile, w^here he met the boat on its up trip, and the 
following winter, he again made the trip to the coast, traveling 
with a dog sledge all the wa^'. 

About one hundred and seventy miles from Forty Mile, to the 
west, the Yukon flats are encountered, and just within them is 
located a new mining camp called Circle City, which was founded 
in the fall of 1S94. ^^ is the distributing point for the vast 
regions surrounding Birch creek, which flows into the Yukon 
two hundred and twenty-five miles below. Circle City has been 
platted into streets, and a recording office for this mining district is 
located here. Six miles westward from Circle City a portage 
of six miles carries the traveler to Birch creek, nearh- two 
hundred miles above its mouth. 

The territorj' drained by the Yukon river in every direction, 
for three or four hundred miles in this region, is low country, 
called the Yukon flats. These flats, whose extent is not known, 
are supposed by miners and others to have at one time formed 
the bed of a vast lake. 

The principal tributar}^ of the Yukon, below Birch creek, is 
the Tanana river, probably eight hundred miles in length, and 
having a number of other streams of considerable size flowing 
into it. The Tanana drains the countr}- stretching from the head 
of the river and the Yukon, to the White river on the south. 
This river has been very slightly explored, and little is known 
of it, or of the natives who inhabit its banks. They are, how- 
ever, reported by the few venturesome prospectors who have 
made their way into this section to be rather ill-disposed. 

Nuklukyeto is located at the junction of the Tozikakat river 
with the Yukon, where the Alaska Commercial Companj- have a 
trading post which was established a number of years ago. 

About five hundred and fifty miles below the Tanana the 
waters of the Koyukuk river joins the Yukon from the north. 
Below the Koyukuk river, the onl}' streams of any importance 
that empty into the Yukon are the Innoko, coming in from the 



52 ALASKA. 

south, and the Anvik, about thirty miles further down, which 
enters from the north. 

The only station at which the ocean steamers land having 
freight or passengers for the upper Yukon, is St. Michael's. 
This has been the principal trading post of the Alaska CoQimer- 
cial Company, and the outfitting post for their stations on the 
river, for the past twent}- years. It is located about sixty miles 
to the north of the usual entrance to the Yukon, on what is 
known as St. Michael's island. 

The question is often asked why a location for a town has not 
been made nearer the mouth of the river, and thus obviating the 
necessity of the river boats steaming out into the open waters of 
Bering sea to take on their freight. So far as is known, there is 
not a suitable location where the high water, on the breaking up 
■of the ice in the river, does not overflow. The Yukon is very 
shallow at its mouths, eight feet being the greatest depth found. 
The ice passes out of the Yvikon, and leaves it free for naviga- 
tion, about the middle of June, but it is not clear for an approach 
to St. Michael's until several days later. If a station could be 
located within easier access to the river, it would afford an 
opportunity to get to the headwaters earlier. St. Michael's is, 
strictly speaking, a native town. Aside from the buildings and 
store of the Alaska Commercial Company and the residences of 
its employes, a church building and the residence of its pas- 
tor, the houses and residences are those of the natives. Enor- 
mous supplies of goods are .shipped here every year for the 
trading posts and missions on the river, and during the two 
months at the opening and closing of the season, it pre- 
.sents an air of bustle and business activity rarely found at any of 
the frontier Alaska towns. The new company, known as the 
North American Transportation and Trading Company, are 
making arrangements to build warehouses and a trading post 
about a half mile .south of the old town. 

The Yukon river and its man}- tributaries, a number of which 
can be navigated by light draft steamers for several hundred 
miles, traver.se an empire. The Yukon is navigable b}- four 
hundred-ton stern-wheel boats, drawing four feet of water, for a 
distance of eighteen hundred and fifty miles from its mouth, or 
to the mouth of Pelly river. It flows into Bering sea through 
several different mouths, that farthest north being nearly one 
hundred miles distant from its most southern artery. Its course 




Yukon Miners and Natives Packing Over Route. 

Winter & Pond, Photo, Juneau, Alaska. 



ROUTE TO THE YUKON RIVER. 



53 



is westerly, but bends north to the Arctic circle when about mid- 
way across the territory. At the junction of the Pelly and I^ewis 
rivers it has an average width of perhaps three-quarters of a 
mile until it reaches Fort Yukon, where it is about eight miles 
wide, and again narrows to from two to three miles at the mouth 
of the Koyukuk river, and maintains this width to Koserefski, 
from which point it again widens to eight or ten miles, and car- 
ries this width towards its mouth, then flows into Bering sea 
through a number of different channels. 

The navigable tributaries of the Yukon for small, light-draft 
boats, may be grouped as follows : The Andreafski for fifty 
miles, Shaghik slough fifty miles, Innoko fifty miles, Tanana 
three hundred miles, Klanarchargut twenty-five miles, Beaver 
creek one hundred miles. Birch creek one hundred and fifty miles, 
Koyukuk river three hundred miles, Porcupine one hundred 
miles, Stewart five hundred miles, Pelly fifty miles, and the 
McMillan two hundred miles. 

While the Yukon is navigable for a distance of one thousand 
eight hundred and fifty miles with a four hundred ton vessel, a 
one hundred and fifty ton .steamer with powerful machinery 
would be enabled to pass through Five Fingers and three hun- 
dred miles further through Hootalinqua river to the head of Tes- 
lin lake. 




CHAPTER VII. 



THE YUKON GOLD FIELDS. 



(~^OLD was first discovered in paying quantities in the Yukon 
basin in iSSi. In that year a party of four miners crossed 
the range and descended the Lewis river as far as the Big Salmon 
river, which they ascended for a distance of two hundred miles. 
Gold was found on all of its bars, man}- of which paid well. In 
the next three or four years some mining was done on the Pelly 
and Hootalinqua rivers, and, in 1886, gold in considerable quan- 
tities was found at Cassiar bar on the Stewart river. The richest, 
b}- the way, so far located in the Yukon countrj^ yielded as high 
as one hundred dollars per day to each man. 

As earh' as i860 men in the employ of the Hudson's Bay 
Company are reported to have found gold in the Yukon basin. 
Professor Davidson credits George Holt as being the first white 
man to cross the coast range. A confusion exists as to the time 
of Holt's journc}', the dates being variousl}- given as 1872, 1874 
and 1878. 

Holt went down the chain of lakes to Lake Marsh or Mud 
lake, as it is sometimes called, and then followed an Indian trail 
to the Hootalinqua river, where, he reported upon his return, he 
had found coarse gold. No coarse gold, however, has since been 
found on that river, but the bars yield large quantities of flour 
gold. In 1 880 P^dward Bean led a party of twenty-five men from 
Sitka to the Hootalinqua river, but met wdtli indifferent success. 
Other parties also crossed the pass during the same year. 

The Yukon section may be divided into three divisions, namely, 
the upper lying entirely within British territory, and embracing 
the White, Stewart, Pelly, Lewis and Hootalinqua rivers, which 
together form the headwaters of the main Yukon; the middle 
division includes Fort Reliance and the country down to the mouth 
of the Tauana river; the lower division stretches from the movith 
of the Tanana to Norton Sound and Bering sea. 




i 



Si 









THE YUKON GOLD I'lELDS. 55 

It is in the middle division that the recent discoveries have 
been made; on Fort}- Mile, Sixt}' Mile, Miller, Glacier and Birch 
creek, and Koyukuk river. Forty Mile and Sixty Mile creeks 
flow into the Yukon from the west, having their source in the 
Ratzel mountains, a low, intermediate range running nearly 
parallel to the Yukon, and forming the divide between the Yukon 
and Tanana rivers. The streams putting into the Tanana on 
the west side of this range have not yet been explored; but lower 
down, along the banks of the Tanana, gold in paying quantities 
has been found, and a few of the bars worked. Recent estimates 
of the gold output from the middle division alone, for the past 
5'ear, are placed at $200,000; while from $25,000 to $50,000 
has been mined in the upper and lower divisions. 

Miller creek, one of the richest so far discovered in the inte- 
rior, is a tributary of Sixty Mile creek, entering it about seventy 
miles from its mouth. It is about seven miles long, and upwards 
of fift}' mining claims have been located there, but few of them 
have, as yet, been developed to any considerable extent. Miners 
prospected this creek at various times for several years, each 
time abandoning it because the vast accumulations of drift found 
everywhere made it unprofitable to work. But, in 1892, pros- 
pecting again began, and many rich strikes were made. One 
claim alone yielding $37,000 of the yellow metal, and one clean- 
up of about eleven hundred ounces was reported. One hundred 
and twenty-fi\'e miners have located on this creek, many of whom 
own their own claims. The rate of wages here established is ten 
dollars per day, which is the usual price paid in all the camps. 

Glacier creek is another branch of Sixty Mile creek being 
separated from Miller creek about three miles, and runs nearly 
parallel with it. Claims located on this creek and prospected 
last season, promise to equal in richness those of INIiller creek, 
and rich finds have been reported here on claims abandoned by 
prospectors some time before. The whole creek has been located. 
The first claims were located the middle of last summer. 
The gulch is nine miles in length, and varies in width from 
a mile and one-half at its mouth to sixt}^ feet at the head. 
The pro.spects on Glacier creek are even better than those on 
Miller creek, the dirt jdelding from a few cents to four dollars to 
the pan. Mining Recorder Paddock, of Glacier creek, .speaks as 



56 ALASKA. 

follows of a trip made in the dead of winter from Forty Mile 
post: "I started on January the third from Fort)' Mile for 
Miller creek, distant about sixty-five miles, and arrived February 
27th. The cold was severe, the thermometer ranging from forty- 
two degrees to seventy-seven degrees below zero, compelling me 
to lie in camp for ten days. I drew a sled which carried mj^ 
small outfit, and meeting many steep and difficult places on the 
route, across gulches and over ridges, I was compelled on several 
occasions to divide my load and take it in sections." 

Another creek, distant about three miles from Miller creek, 
is named Bed Rock, but as yet has not proved very promising 
as a mining location. 

Indian creek flows into the Yukon about thirty miles below 
Sixty Mile creek. Here rich gold discoveries were reported last 
year. The stream is rapid, but shallow, but prospectors have 
ascended it a distance of over one hundred miles. 

Forty Mile creek is more familiarly known to the miners of 
Alaska, and perhaps to the people at large, than any other min- 
ing locality in the territory. Its bars have yielded large returns, 
but these diggings are practically abandoned for the gulches and 
ravines that furnish coarser gold. It is about two hundred miles 
long, and its tributaries are numerous. Entering the Yukon 
from the west, it drains the countr}^ b'ing between the Yukon 
and Tanana rivers. It was not discovered until 1887, and was 
the scene of the first real excitement in the valley of the Yukon. 
This stream enters that river from the W2st in about sixty-four de- 
grees north latitude and about one hundred and forty-one degrees 
west longitude. Its mouth is in Canadian territory. The first news 
of gold being found here was brought to the coast bj^ a man 
named Tom Williams, who was the bearer of letters to "Jack " 
McQuestion, of the Alaska Commercial Company's trading post 
at the junction of Forty Mile creek with the Yukon, who was 
then in San Francisco, advising him of the discovery, and 
instructing him to ship in a larger supply of provisions in antici- 
pation of a rush to the new Eldorado the following spring. Wil- 
liams was accompanied by an Indian boy with a dog team and 
sled. They had an extremel}' rough trip up the river. It was 
in the dead of winter and the cold was intense. Before reaching 
Lake Bennett the dogs all died from cold and exhaustion. At 
the summit of Chilkoot pass a fearful storm arose, and the strug- 
gling travelers were compelled to hastily build a snow hut in 



THE YUKON GOIvD FIELDS. 57 

which they remained ten da}'S, living on a little dry flour, the 
only thing left them in the way of provisions. Both men were 
badly frost-bitten, and upon attempting to resume the journe}^ it 
was found that Williams was unable to travel. Nothing daunted, 
the j^oung Indian took his companion on his back and, struggling 
through drifts and blinding snow, succeeded in reaching Ty-a, 
sixteen miles distant. A few days later Williams died, but not 
until he told Captain Healy of the strike at Forty Mile, and of 
his mail pouch containing his letters which was left at the snow 
hut at the summit, where it was afterward recovered. 

In the following spring active mining operations began, and, 
it is estimated, that since that time upwards of half a million dol- 
lars in gold have been taken out of Forty Mile creek, and the 
small feeders running into it. On Forty Mile nearly all the 
available rich ground has been worked out, but there are many 
high bars along the stream known to be rich, which have not as 
yet been touched, because of the difiiculty of getting water 
through them, and the frozen condition of the ground. 

Birch creek, the scene of the latest strikes and excitement in 
the Yukon country, runs parallel with the Yukon on the west, 
for over three hundred miles, and as elsewhere related, has a 
remarkable feature of a portage only six miles across between this 
and the Yukon, two hundred miles above its confluence with that 
stream, so a trip by water by one terminal of the portage to the 
other involves a journey of four hundred miles. Here on the 
Yukon side of the gatewa}' to the Birch creek mines, is Circle 
City, and at the close of the season last fall, fully three hundred 
miners were to be found in the difierent gulches, many of whom 
intended to spend the winter drifting, and opening up their 
claims. 

Ned Ayleward, a Birch creek miner, in describing the gold 
discoveries there, says : • ' In coarse gold I got as high as thirteen 
dollars to the pan. The gold is like pumpkin seeds, but some 
pieces weigh from three to ten dollars, and I think I will make 
from forty to fifty dollars per day, when I have my claim opened 
up. In prospecting, I would get from fifteen to twenty dollars, 
under a little stone on bed rock. I did not leave Juneau broke, 
for in that case I would have had to rustle for a " grub stake," 
and in all probability would not have made this strike. I have 
seen no quartz claims here that amount to anything, but am on 
the look out for them," 



58 ALASKA. 

Here are extensive auriferous deposits, and the creeks and 
bars adjacent to Birch creek have been more or less thoroughly 
prospected, with the result that this section bids fair to become a 
vigorous gold-producing rival of the famed Forty Mile district. 

One of the principal tributaries to Birch creek is Crooked 
creek, and from Circle City a trail leads over the hills to the 
mines on Independence and Mastodon creeks. 

On Molymute, a branch of Birch creek, gold was first dis- 
covered in 1893, and since that time it has been found on tribu- 
tary streams. Birch creek has been explored for upwards of 
three hundred and fifty miles, and the entire distance is filled 
with rapids and canyons. The South Fork drains the countrj^ 
lying at the head of Seventy Mile creek. Many claims were 
staked off last year at Mastodon, Independence, and other streams 
flowing into Birch creek. These claims are more easily worked 
than elsewhere on the Yukon and tributaries, from the fact that 
bedrock appears much nearer the surface, and water is more 
easily obtained. Some sixty miles below Birch creek portage 
Preacher creek joins the main stream. This creek is about one 
hundred and twenty miles long. It has been prospected but 
little, and not much is known of it, except that as everywhere 
else in the Yukon basin, gold is found. The headwaters of this 
creek penetrate a country whose geological formation is very 
peculiar, showing drift and disturbances which might have been 
caused by the receding of waters ages ago. 

Three years ago some rich gold discoveries were made on the 
Koyukuk river which were prospected vigorously the following 
year with good results. A number of creeks, namely, North Fork, 
Wild creek. South Fork, and Fish creek, have also been pros- 
pected with fairly good success, but no extensive deposits have 
yet been found. Gold placer mining may be said to end here, as 
from this point to the mouth of the Yukon, little prospecting has 
been done. Below the Koyukuk river the only streams of any 
importance that empty into the Yukon, are the Innoko coming 
in from the south, and the Anvik from the north, about thirty 
miles further down. 

Numerous creeks have been prospected and successfully 
worked along the branches of the Yukon and other rivers, some 
of them proving very rich ; and during the past two years richer 
and more extensive deposits of gold have been found in this 
country, until to-day, the interior of Alaska is believed by many 



THE YUKON GOLD FIELDvS. 59 

to be the largest placer mining district on this continent. Vari- 
ous estimates have been made of the amount of gold taken out 
in the past two years, some of them reaching as high as one mil- 
lion dollars, but it is doubtful if more than half that amount has 
been found. A number of miners have taken out as high as 
$12,000 or $15,000, but, with few exceptions, these amounts were 
not washed out b}- individual miners, but b}' the combined work 
of several men. 

In another chapter reference is made to the climatic conditions 
existing in Alaska. The difference in climate between the coast 
country and that of the interior is very marked. All along the 
Kuskoquim river, during the summer months, there is an ex- 
cessive fall of rain, while in the interior it is very dry. Refer- 
ence has also been made to the condition of the ground in the 
interior, and it is from the fact that the frozen earth extends to a 
depth of many feet below the surface, that placer mining in the 
interior is very difficult. 

The surface of the ground is covered with moss often to the 
depth of eighteen inches, and the hot rays of the sun during the 
long days of summer are not able to penetrate sufficiently to 
thaw the ground underneath. It is only where the moss is 
stripped, and the bare surface is reached by the sun's rays, that 
it thaws to any extent. This method is often resorted to by the 
miners, in order to get the ground in readiness for their sluicing 
work. The ice does not usually pass out of the Yukon until 
the first or middle of June, but when it starts, it goes quickl}-, 
and miners are soon hard at work, digging into the bars and 
working their sluices. 

As early as the middle of September the sun becomes so low 
that the air is chilly, and in a few days ice forms, so that further 
working of the ground must be abandoned until the following 
year. 

It must be remembered, however, that although one cannot 
depend upon much more than two months in which to work the 
ground, yet, from about the middle of June until the first of 
August, it is daylight, and the sun shines almost continually. 
Thus, what is lost in the length of the season is, in a measure, 
made up in the length of the day; and, if a man can stand the 
severe physical strain he must undergo, he can put many more 
hours in here than in placer mining camps in other parts of the 
country; and if his claim proves sufficientl}' rich to enable him 



6o ALASKA. 

to pay for hired help, darkness never interferes with work, for 
by running two or three shifts each day, he can work his mine, 
and have dayHght to do it in, nearly the entire season. 

The complaint has always been made by miners, in the Yukon, 
and by those who know of the difficulties that beset prospectors 
in that country, that several months in the year are lost, and 
when the season closes nothing can be done but while away the 
time in visiting neighbors, making trips to the native settle- 
ments, or in hunting. But the happy thought came to .some 
one to spend some of the time in summer prospecting and finding 
favorable locations; and in the winter to make fires upon the 
surface, thus thawing the ground until bedrock was reached, 
then to drift and tunnel, lifting the dirt to the surface, and piling 
it up so that when .spring came, and water was to be had, he 
could wash his dirt and make it profitable. The last season 
closed with a determination on the part of many to carry out this 
method; a new impetus was given because several miners who 
had tried the plan the year previous found that the work thus 
done in the winter was not a useless expenditure of time and 
labor. 

The largest nugget ever found on the Yukon was taken out 
by one Conrad Dahl, and was found in Franklyn gulch on March 

A YUKON NUGGET. 




% Inch Thick. 'Vi^ ^^^ i ^i iNcmiS Thick. 



Size .^nd Siiai'i;. 

26, 1894. It weighed exactly thirt}- ounces before, and twenty- 
nine and forty-five one hundredth ounces after being melted at 






^' 




^f^. •^:/r 



The Canyon, Yukon River. 



THE YUKON GOIvD FIELDvS. 6i 

the mint in San Francisco. Dahl had prospected in the vicinity 
the summer before, and in the winter thawed the ground by 
burning wood on top, and continued this process until he reached 
bedrock, hauled the dirt out, and washed it afterwards. The 
nugget brought four hundred and ninety -one dollars and forty- 
five cents. 

The next few years will probably determine whether there are 
an}- extensive deposits of gold quartz in the interior of Alaska. 
Most of the men who have gone into the interior have been men 
of very limited means, and the expense of carrying supplies in 
from the coast has been so great that their means w^as taxed to 
the utmost to land at the scene of their labors with food sufficient 
to last them a single season. It is thus seen that unless a 
"grub stake," at least, is made before winter sets in, they must 
go hungry or return to civilization. On this account they have 
not spent much time looking for quartz. 

Within the past year companies have been formed and an 
effort made to test the quartz-bearing capacity' of this country, 
with a very reasonable prospect that rich and valuable ledges 
will be found. It is fair to suppose when upon nearly every 
stream and creek gold is found in greater or less quantities, that 
somewhere in the mountains, whatever may be the climatic or 
other conditions that dissolve the ledges and turn the gold loose 
upon the broad level of the low lands, there must be rich gold 
quartz. There are instances, and not a few, where men in pros- 
pecting or working placer mines, have come across boulders or 
rocks containing gold, but, for the reasons stated above, they 
were not able to expend the labor necessary to follow up the 
"float." 

If the indications of the placer fields mean anything, they 
suggest that the interior of Alaska is, in a very few years, des- 
tined to become a great center of quartz mining. 

Those who have not had personal experience in placer mining 
cannot realize the fascination which is always with one engaged 
in this occupation. It is a healthful^ hopeful, rugged and inde- 
pendent life. The placer miner goes alone into the mountain 
fastnesses with pick, shovel and pan, far away from every scene 
•of civilization. He feels a pride in picking out the yellow frag- 
ments, which he has separated from the dirt by dextrous dipping, 
gradually letting the gravel run out with the water, while the 
5'ellow deposits settles around the edge and gravitates to the 



62 



ALASKA. 



bottom of the pan. Beh.re venturing; upon the life, he is naturally 
overcome with dread of separation from home and friends. He 
realizes that he is to be deprived of the pleasures of society; per- 
haps he is leaving a lo\ing wife and children behind, but when 
once in the field these recollections crowd him on to new life and 
spur him to renewed efforts. And when, perhaps, he has secured 
his treasure and returns to find that he has not been forgotten, 
life seems to open up through a vista of years a new and happy 
existence. In no place on earth can you find such loyalty to 
friends, such honor among men, as in the camp of the miner. 
They are the architects of their own laws, and executioners as 
well. Their lives develop all the characteristics that go to make 
up a strong nature, and the dangers with which they come in 
contact, school them to bear their burdens calmly and to meet 
peril, or death if need be, with fortitude. 



r 




/ >■ K 



CHAPTER VIII. 



LAND AND vSEA ANIMALS. 




A LASKA, in a peculiar sense, 
is the home of fur-bearing 
animals. It abounds in "fish, 
flesh and fowl." The bays and 
inlets teem with aquatic birds 
and animals, and the land is the 
home of the bear, wolf, deer, 
cariboo, moose, fox, wolverine 
and many others widely distri- 
buted. 

Early in the history of the 
Russian occupancy of Alaska, 
■••.''■■ " the sea otter skin traffic, which 

for a long time had no competitor, began to find a rival of mag- 
nitude in the fur seal trade. 

In 1786, the year succeeding the discovery of the Pribilof 
group of islands, over five hundred thousand fur seals were killed 
by Russian hunters, and the figures have even been placed as 
high as two millions. Whether the latter figures are exagger- 
ated or not, it is true, that twenty years from that time, the fur 
.seal had almost entirely disappeared from these islands. ]\Iore 
than half of the skins taken on the Pribilof islands were thrown 
into the sea in an advanced stage of decomposition, because of 
careless curing, and the waters were so poisoned as to drive 
awa}' the seals for several successive seasons. 

Chinese merchants trading on the vSiberian frontier, j^laced a 
high value upon these skins, and frequently refused to exchange 
teas with the Russian traders for any other commodity. When 
the Russian-American company obtained exclusive control of the 
Russian possessions in America, the fur seals were so nearly 
destroyed that, for a time, the new company's traffic was quite 



64 ALASKA. 

insignificant. Prompt and efficient remedy was at once applied, 
by prohibiting the killing of seals for five j^ears, from 1807 to 
181 2. At the expiration of that time the shy animals had 
returned, sufficiently recuperated to afford a continuous and 
reliable source of revenue. 

The art of plucking and dying seal skins was invented by the 
Chinese. The exact date when this process was adopted by the 
English is unknown, but it occurred some time during the first 
half of the nineteenth century, as a regular demand for seal skins 
can be traced from that time. Shipments, directly to New York 
and London, were inaugurated about 1850, and these shipments 
continued at the rate of from twenty thousand to sixty thousand 
skins per annum, until the transfer of the Russian possessions to 
the United States. 

When the question of acquiring Russian America was dis- 
cussed in Congress, no particular stress was laid upon the pros- 
pective value of the fur seal industry, though it was known to 
be one of the principal sources of revenue to the Russian- Ameri- 
can company. During the last decade of Russian ownership the 
agents in charge of the Pribilof islands reported each j^ear that 
the fur seals were increasing in such numbers that the rookeries 
were crowded beyond their capacity. Each report was accom- 
panied by urgent requests to be permitted to kill more seals, to 
make room for the increasing millions. The fact that it was pos- 
sible to continue the slaughter, at the rate of one hundred 
thousand per annum, for twenty years after our purchase, seems 
to prove that when the United States acquired these valuable 
islands, the industry was in as prosperous condition as when dis- 
covered by Pribilof in 1786. 

The radical restrictions of late years limiting the number of 
seals to be killed annually to one hundred thousand, were based 
upon careful observations and estimates; but the indiscriminate 
slaughter inaugurated within the past few years, by sealing ves- 
sels from British Columbia, which encounter the migrating ani- 
mals on their way to the breeding grounds, and kill males and 
females alike, has fully justified the still more radical restrictions 
since made. 

The only hauling or breeding grounds of the fur seal known 
in Alaska are upon the Islands of St. Paul and St. George. 
On the Otter islands, these animals occasionally haul up, l)ut 
do not breed. The Pacific and Antarctic oceans have been 



LAND AND SEA ANIMALS. 65 

scoured by sealers and emissaries of trading firms, in search of 
supposed "winter homes" of the fur seal; but at the present 
da}' the fact seems to be established, that after leaving their con- 
fined breeding places, the}- scatter over the broad Pacific to loca- 
tions where extensive elevations of the bottom of the sea enable 
them to subsist upon fish until the instinct of reproduction calls 
them again, from all directions, to their common rendezvous. 

The killing of fur seals is done altogether on land, and has 
been reduced, through long observation and practice, to a science. 
Under the present lease the company has been restricted to kill 
less than seven thousand five hundred each year; and the only 
individuals permitted to do the work are the able-bodied Aleutian 
hunters, now living on the islands, whose ancestors were brought 
from the Aleutian islands by the Russian government. They 
receive forty cents per seal. Life-long practice has made them 
expert in using their huge clubs and sharp skinning knives, 
both instruments being manufactured expressly for this purpose. 
These men are proud of their skill as sealers, and will not demean 
themselves by doing any other kind of work. 

The labor connected with the killing of seals may be divided 
into two distinct processes; the separation of the seals of a cer- 
tain age and size from the main body and their removal to the 
killing ground; and the final process, of making another sorting 
among the select, and killing and skinning them. A damp, 
cloudy day is especially desirable for both driving and killing. 

The young male seals, to the age of four years, invariably 
segregate themselves, in the rear of the so-called rookeries — or 
groups of families — that line the sea shore; and the experienced 
native crawls in between the families and these "bachelors." 
This is accomplished without difiiculty, and the animals are 
driven inland, in droves of from one to three thousand each, 
very slowly, lest the animals become overheated and injure the 
quality of their skins. When the slaughter ground is reached, 
twenty or thirty seals are separated from their fellows, in quick 
succession, surrounded by their executioners armed with clubs, 
and the killing begins. The experienced eye of the Aleut 
quickly discovers if the seal is either under or above the specified 
age or size, and if such a one be found, he is dismissed, with a 
gentle tap on the nose, and allowed to make his way to the 
shore and escape. 

5 



66 



ALASKA. 



The men with ckibs proceed from one group to another, 
striking the seals violently on the nose to stun them. Others 
immediatel}^ follow with long, sharp knives, and stab each stunned 
seal to the heart, to insure immediate death. Then the skinners 
come and, with astonishing rapidit}^ divest the carcasses of their 
rich and valuable covering, leaving, however, the head and 
flippers intact. Carts, drawn by mules, follow the skinners, and 
into these the pelts are thrown to be carried away to the salt 
houses, and salted down for the time being, like fish in barrels. 
Later, after pressure is applied, they are rolled in bundles of two 
each, with the fur inside, securely strapped, and are then ready 
for shipment. The wives and daughters of the sealers linger 




around the bloody field and reap a rich harvest of luscious blub- 
ber, carrying it away on their heads and shoulders, the oil drip- 
ping down over their faces and garments. 

The sea otter seems to exist chiefly on a line parallel with the 
Japanese current, from the coast of Japan along the Kurile 
islands to the coast of Kamchatka, and thence westward along 
the Aleutian chain, the southward side of the Alaska peninsula, 
the estuaries of Cook inlet and Prince William sound, thence 
eastward and southward along the Alaska coast, the Alexander 
archipelago, British Columbia, Washington and Oregon. But 
it is Ijecoming scarcer each year, owing to the recklessness with 
which it has been hunted and killed. Three distinct times, dur- 
ing the existence of the Russian-American company, their agents 



LAND AND SEA ANIMALS. 67 

in the Kurile islands have reported the sea otter extinct, but 
each time it has appeared again, after a few years respite from 
hunting. They change from one feeding ground to another. 
At the present date, about the Kurile islands and Kamchatka, 
few are killed annually, and Attu island and several smaller 
islands, which formerly furnished many hundred sea otter skins 
every year, now produce less than a dozen skins in the same 
time. The outlying reefs of Atka, also, once furnished an abun- 
dant supply of these skins, but are now entirely deserted. From 
the Island of Unimak eastward, however, sea otter has become 
more plentiful, and within a radius of fifty miles of the island, 
about one thousand are taken annually. But the hunting is 
carried on recklessly by whites and natives alike, with firearms, 
in direct violation of the law. They are still found in the waters 
of the Kadiak archipelago, as well as in the southern portion of 
Cook inlet. 

The land otter is one of the most widely distributed fur-bearing 
animals in Alaska, unless we except the fox. Its skin is highly 
valued, and is now utilized in the manufacture of an imitation 
seal skin. The land otter is found on the whole coast of Alaska, 
from the southern boundary to Norton sound. Within the Arctic 
circle it is confined to the upper portions of the rivers empt3-ing 
into Kotzebue sound and the Arctic ocean; and it is also found 
along the whole course of the Yukon, and, as far as known, in 
nearly all parts of the Alaska peninsula, the Kadiak archipelago, 
and the coast from Mt. St. Elias to the southern boundary. 

There has been a great decline, both in the supply and demand 
for beaver, during the last fifty years. Once it was the most 
important among the fur-bearing animals of continental Alaska. 
This animal has frequently suffered from the excessive and pro- 
longed cold of the Arctic winter, in the interior country north of 
Cook inlet and the Yukon. The ice in the river and lakes has 
formed so rapidly, and to such a thickness at times, that the 
animals found it impossible to keep open the approaches to their 
dwellings under water, and died of starvation before spring. 
Hundreds of putrifying carcasses have been found by natives in 
the beaver lodges. Old beaver dams scattered over the- conti- 
nental portion of Alaska testify to the former abundance of the 
animal. Though now hundreds are taken where formerly thou- 
sands were captured, and notwithstanding the demand has les- 
sened, the supply has not increased. 



68 ALASKA. 

When the Hudson's Baj^ Company were lords of the entire 
Northwest American continent, the skins of these animals repre- 
sented the value of an English shilling, and were used and 
accepted as common currency. The present price of a beaver 
skin of average size, in Alaska, is from six to twelve dollars. 
The Indians of the interior and a few of the Eskimo tribes look 
upon the flesh of the beaver as a great delicacy. It is a dish 
which they always set before honored guests, and is also much 
u.'^ed in festivities. The long incisors of the beaver are made 
into chisels, small adzes and other tools, for the working of wood 
and bone. 

The brown bear, a huge, shaggy animal, is found in nearly 
ever}' section of the territorj-. The northern limit of its habitat 
is about sixty-seven degrees north latitude. It prefers an open, 
swarap}^ country to the timber. The brown bear is an expert 
fisher, and during the salmon season it frequents all the rivers, 
and their tributaries, emptying into Bering sea and the North 
Pacific. At the end of the annual salmon run, it retreats to the 
tundra, where berries and small game are plentiful This ani- 
mal has been called the road-maker of Alaska, for not only are 
swampy plains, leading to the easiest fording places of streams 
and rivers, intersected by his paths, but the hills and ridges of 
mountains are also marked by his footsteps. The largest speci- 
mens are found at Cook inlet. On its west side they can be seen 
in herds of twenty five or thirty. From the fact that their skins 
are not very valuable, and also that they are of a fierce disposi- 
tion, they are little hunted. Before attempting to kill one the' 
native hunter invariably addresses a few complinientar_v remarks 
to his intended victim. 

The Thlinkits liave a tradition, told them by the shamans, 
that the brown bear is a man who has assumed the shape of an 
animal. The tradition relates that this secret of nature first 
became known through the daughter of a chief. The girl went 
into the woods to gather berries, and incautiously spoke in terms 
of ridicule of a bear, whose traces she observed in her path. In 
punishment for her levit}', she was decoyed into the bear's lair 
and there compelled to marry him and assume the form of a bear 
herself. After her husband and her ursine child had been killed 
by her Thlinkit brethren, she returned to her home in her former 
shape and related her adventures. In deference to this generally 
received superstition, when the iiati\-es run r.cross War tracks in 



LAND AND SEA ANIMALS. 69 

the woods, they immediately say the most charming and compli- 
nientary things of bears in general, and their visitor in particular. 

The black bear generally confines himself to timber and moun- 
tain regions. It exists on a few islands in Prince William 
sound, and on Kadiak island, and is found on rivers emptying 
into the Arctic, and is plentiful southward to the valley of the 
Yukon. The skins command high prices, and are increasing in 
value yearly. The animals are shy, and great skill and patience 
are required to hunt them. Like the brown bear, they are expert 
fishers, wading into the streams and, as a salmon comes along, 
they strike with dextrous paw and land their fish on the bank, 
where it furnishes a toothsome feast. Unlike the brown bear, 
» however, the natives do not fear them in the least. The glossiest 
and largest of black bear skins come from the St. Elias Alpine 
range and Prince William sound, but the black bear never 
attains the size of his brown relative. 

The red fox is found in every section of Alaska. In fact, this 
animal seems omnipresent. It varies in size and in the quality 
of its fur from a specimen as large as the high-priced Siberian 
fire fox, to the small, 3'ellow-tinged creature that rambles fur- 
tively over the rocky islands of the Aleutian chain. Like a poor 
relation, he mingles persistently with his aristocratic cousins, 
the black and silver foxes, always managing, in course of time, 
to deteriorate the blood and tarnish the coat of his richer rela- 
tive. His diet is heterogenous, fish, flesh and fowl being equally 
satisfactory to his taste ; nor does he disdain shellfish, mussels, 
or the eggs of aquatic birds. He is rarely hunted or trapped by 
the natives, from the fact that his fur is cheap, and they never 
eat his flesh, except when driven to it from famine. 

The king of the vulpine familj^ is the black or silver fox. In 
the mountain fastnesses of the interior, and on the headwaters of 
the large rivers, he is found in his prime. He is of large size, 
with long, soft, silkj^ fur, varying in color from the silver tint to 
the deep jet black, the latter being the most rare and highly 
prized. They are found along the boundaries between Alaska 
and British Columbia, in the country of the Chilkats, the Takus, 
the upper Copper river, upper Yukon, Tanana and Kuskoquim 
rivers. In the last named regions, skins maj^ be bought from 
ten to fifteen dollars each, but in Southeast Alaska, where com- 
petition is strong, forty and fifty dollars each is frequently paid 
for them. Black foxes, of an inferior qualit}^ are found on the 



70 ALASKA. 

sea coast, on the shores of Norton sound, in the interior of 
Kotzebue sound, along the Yukon, and on the Colville river. 
The}^ are quite plentiful on Kadiak island and most of the Aleu- 
tian islands ; but the)^ have been transported bj" man's agency 
to mau}^ of these points. 

Along the southwestern coast there are many islands, removed 
from the shore a few miles, uninhabited and never visited by 
natives. In a number of instances white men have gathered a 
few pairs of l^lue, black and silver foxes, when young, from the 
natives, and taken them to these islands and turned them adrift. 
They arrange with the natives to carry food to them at stated 
periods, and the}' become, in a measure, tame. The}- increase 
ver}' rapidl}', and in three or four years become a source of profit- 
able industry for the projectors of the enterprise. On the seal 
islands the propagation of the blue fox has been carried on for 
some 3-ears, only a certain number being killed each j^ear. The 
blue fox was first discovered on the Aleutian islands in 1741. It 
has been protected against intermixture with other and inferior 
foxes, and the skins are of the finest quality and command a 
high price in the market. 

The cross fox partakes of the distinguishing qualities of both 
the red and black, and is evidently the result of unrestricted 
intermixture, the connecting link between the plebian and the 
patrician. The skin of the cross fox is valued but little more 
than the red, from two to three dollars being paid for the best. 

Almost the only high-priced fur found in the Yukon basin is 
the silver fox, and it forms a most important element in the trade 
of that region. 

The wdiite fox is found along the continental coast of Alaska, 
from the mouth of the Kuskoquim river northward to Point Bar- 
row. Its fur is snowy white, soft and long, but is not durable ; 
hence it does not command a high price in the market. The 
white fox is fearless, and will enter villages and dwellings in 
search of food, or out of mere curiosity. It will eat anything to 
satisfy hunger, and in the depth of winter the natives find it un- 
safe to leave any article of clothing, dog harness or boat material 
where these thieving little animals can find them. 

Mink are plentiful on the coast, but not on the islands, except- 
ing those of Prince William .sound. They are also abundant on 
the Yukon and many other rivers. The spell of fa.shion has 



LAND AND vSEA ANIMALS. 71 

made this skin of but little value. But within the past two years 
it has become more popular, and iu a few 3'ears it may be as 
fashionable as when, a score or more years ago, it was the pride 
of ever)^ woman to possess a cape made from the fur of these 
pretty animals. 

The polar bear is found only on the Arctic coast where there 
are large bodies of ice. With the moving ice fields, he enters, 
and leaves the waters of Bering sea. From fifty to one hundred 
of these animals are killed yearh^ principally by the natives. It 
sometimes happens, when a whale that has been struck by a har- 
poon and not killed, in time dies and is washed ashore, the polar 
bears will come from all directions, drawn by the scent of the 
carcass^ and feed on the blubber. Natives then come upon them 
wdth their crude weapons and slay them in large numbers. 

The lynx is found in the wooded mountains, and wolves, both 
gre}^ and white, are plentiful, but rarely killed. 

Muskrats abound all over Alaska, and rabbits and marmots 
are killed for their flesh ; the natives use the skins of the former 
for clothing. Especially is this true in the Arctic region, as the 
reindeer, the animal that formerly supplied them with skins for 
clothing, are fast disappearing. 

Wolverines are plentiful on the upper Yukon and the lake 
sections. The skins are rarely exported, as a ready market is 
found among the inhabitants of the coast region of the Yukon 
and Kuskoquim, who prefer this shaggy, piebald fur to any other 
trimming for their wearing apparel. This skin is very highlj^ 
prized among the Eskimo, as it serves as an excellent protection 
for their faces against the severe blasts, when sewed around their 
hoods. 

Deer are very abundant, especially in Southeast Alaska, 
where, in winter, they are recklessly slaughtered for their hides, 
when driven to the coast by long continued snow. So reckless 
has this slaughter become that there is great danger of their 
being exterminated, unless Congress passes a law prohibiting the 
exportation of deer hides from the territory for a number of years. 
Deer form a large supply of food for the natives of Southeast 
Alaska; and the wanton manner in which the}?- are killed bids 
fair to eliminate a food product of vast importance. They are 
hunted, in the rutting season, by a call made from a blade of 
grass placed between two strips of wood, which produces a very 



72 ALASKA. 

clever imitation of the cr)' of the deer. This call leads them to 
the ambushed hunter; and so deceptive is it that it is not unusual 
to get a second shot should the first fail. The wolves play great 
havoc with the deer; and it is remarkable that they exist in such 
numbers among so many ruthless enemies. 

Moose, cariboo and deer are found in the upper Yukon coun- 
try, and especially on the White river moose are reported by the 
natives to be plentiful, and of large size. 

The deer of the Arctic and sub- Arctic regions have been con- 
founded with the reindeer of other localities. While they cer- 
tainl}' belong to the same family they are what is called the 
barren ground cariboo, which differs from the upland cariboo 
and domesticated reindeer in being smaller in body and horns. 

The mountain sheep and goat are found along the highest 
mountains of the coast and in the interior, in droves of twenty 
or more. The}' seem to prefer the highest altitudes and most 
precipitous steeps. Their wool is long and fine, and when nicely 
cleansed and tanned makes beautiful rugs. The horns of the 
sheep are made into bowls and ladles b}' the natives; and many 
rare and beautiful pieces worked up in this way find readj^ pur- 
chasers in tourists. 

Bald and gray eagles are numerous throughout Southeast 
Alaska, and are also found, to some extent, in the interior wher- 
ever there is large timber. The natives kill them in large num- 
bers and pluck the feathers, leaving nothing but the down. 
When cleansed the skins are sewn together, about thirty of them 
being required to make a robe, which is, at once, rich and beau- 
tiful. 

Humming birds, in large numbers, having the delicate plum- 
age of those found in warmer climates, flit from bush to bush in 
Southeast Alaska. Native boys tie small pieces of red flannel 
on a limb, and cover them thinklj'^ with pitch. The bright color 
attracts the tiny birds, who alight on the flannel. Their little 
feet adhere so tenaciously to the pitch that they cannot extricate 
themselves, so they become an easj^ prey to the j^oungsters who 
trap them, only to worrj' them to death with savage cruelty. 

In all the waters of Alaska, whether in the southeastern coun- 
try, the interior, or Arctic regions, ducks and geese in every 
variety are found in vast numbers Alaska appears to be especi- 
ally adapted as a natural breeding ground. The smaller varieties 



LAND AND SEA ANIMALS. 73 

of land and timber birds are as numerous as the water fowl, and 
the graceful swan are found in large numbers in manj' parts of 
the territory. 

In Arctic Alaska the disappearance of the snow and ice is 
immediately followed by the arrival of birds from the south in 
large numbers, and, in a few weeks, the Eskimo revel in the 
variety and number of eggs found among the grass and tundra. 
Besides the wholesale robbing of nests for eggs the young 
fledglings are eaten by the Eskimos with a keen relish. Their 
stay is brief, however, for none, save the most hardly of 
the Arctic birds, remain to pass the long months of winter in this 
region. 

It may be interesting, while noting some of the resources of 
Alaska, to mention some of its exports since the United States 
acquired possession ; to demonstrate the wisdom of the purchase 
and show that the vast and varied resources of our great north- 
ern possession are worthy of more than a passing word. 

In this connection, also, it may be interesting to refer to 
executive document number thirty- six, of the House of Repre- 
sentatives, second session. Forty-first Congress, 1869, which is 
based upon the report of a special agent of the Treasury Depart- 
ment, 

It says, that at six per cent, interest on the seven million two 
hundred thousand dollars paid for the territory, together with 
the expense of maintaining the government there, would amount 
in twenty-five years to the sum of forty-four million dollars. 
And that, with the most liberal estimate of income from the fur 
seal islands, and from customs duties, an amount not to exceed 
one hundred and ten thousand dollars per annum conld be real- 
ized. And from no other source but a most extraordinary con- 
dition of circumstances, such as the discovery of large deposits 
of mineral, could any material increase in revenue be looked for. 

The agent's estimate of the revenue was as erroneous in the 
matter of the fur seal islands as in other directions. For from 
this source alone there has been paid into the national treasury 
nearly nine million dollars. 

The following table, carefully compiled from official records, 
will show how far the " extraordinary circumstances " have con- 
spired to make the purchase of Alaska not only a shrewd piece 



74 ALASKA. 

of diplomatic sagacity, but that Seward's " ice box " has proven 
a most profitable investment: 

Furs |53,ooo,ooo oo 

Canned salmon 10,000,000 00 

Whalebone 10,000,000 00 

Gold and silver 6,coo,ooo 00 

Whale oil 3,000,000 00 

Codfish 1,600,000 00 

Salted salmon 800,000 00 

Ivorv 160,000 00 



Total 184,560,000 00 



CHAPTER IX. 



THE TOURIST ROUTE. 



n^HE tourist route to Alaska extends from Seattle to Sitka, and 
lies over a course which, for nearly twelve hundred miles, 
is almost entirely through narrow channels bordered b}' high 
mountains that completely prevent the sea from becoming rough. 
If an occasional glimpse of the waters of the North Pacific ocean 
were not obtained, when passing from the shelter of one island 
behind the precipitous shores of another, one would never realize 
that he was enjoying all the pleasures of a sea voyage, with but 
few of the discomforts. 

The Pacific Coast Steamship Company of San Francisco, ex- 
tended its route northward to this country some ten years ago. 
And upwards of five thousand tourists, each j-ear since, have 
seen an endless panorama of scener}- unfolded to their view 
throughout the entire distance. 

The vessels are large, comfortable and convenient, and the 
appointments throughout, are especially adapted for the sort 
of trip made ; and every facility is afforded for complete enjoy- 
ment, and every opportunitj^ given to see and learn all there 
is to discover, on this greatest of tourists' routes 

A semi-monthl}' mail is carried by the Pacific Coast Steam- 
ship Company to the different points on this route, and besides 
the steamers thus emploj^ed, the palatial steamer "Queen," 
three thousand tons burden, having accommodations for two 
hundred and fifty first-class passengers, makes semi-monthly 
trips during June, Jul)' and August. There is no time in the 
year, however, when communication to all points on this route 
is not made regularly twice each month, but during December, 
January and February a single steamer only is necessary to take 
care of the trafiic. 

While the universal verdict of those who are so fortunate as to 
be able to take a trip to Alaska is that it is one round of charm- 



76 ALASKA. 

ing surprises, and the scener}- superior to that found in any other 
part of the civilized world, the great secret of the popularity 
of the Alaskan trip is the courteous and attentive treatment 
received from the employes. The masters have all been on this 
route for many years, and they never forget, for an instant, to 
afford the passengers every opportunity to see and enjoy to the 
fullest extent all sights and pleasures possible. 

The most favorable time for making the trip is from the first 
of June until the last of August ; yet a month earlier or later 
presents many opportunities for enjoyment. The long periods of 
twilight which prevail in this latitude, in the spring and fall 
months, strikes one as strange, and a better view is often afforded 
in the subdued light of " early morn and dewy eve." 

The dry subject of enumeration of the articles needed on this 
trip ma}' be abbreviated by the simple suggestion that one should 
carry such articles as are usually needed on a journej^ of two or 
three weeks, being careful to have clothing that is warm and 
suitable for an unusually rainy country. 

Seattle, which bears the illustrious title of the Queen City of 
the Northwest, is situated upon an indentation of Puget sound, 
forming a perfect harbor, almost circular in shape, and named 
Elliott bay. 

It is a substantial, well-built city, having a population of 
more than sixt}^ thousand, and it presents in every wa}', the air 
and activity of a live, bustling and enterprising city. Although 
founded 'way back in the fifties, the real growth of Seattle dates 
from 1 889, when the entire business portion of the city was laid 
in ashes, and almost every vestige of the early uncouth, ill-built 
town was swept away. 

The wooden buildings and shacks that lined the business 
streets have been replaced by modern brick and stone blocks, 
elegant in construction and imposing in appearance. The city is 
modern in ever}' respect. It has a magnificent S3^stem of water 
works and sewers, is well lighted and has good streets, over 
which there is a complete network of street railways reaching to 
the different sul)urban towns, and to the many beautiful parks 
and lake.'^ide resorts, for which the city is justly noted and which 
are the admiration of the tourist. 

Lake Washington, the pride and delight of Seattleites, is a 
beautiful sheet of water, lying east of the city, about twenty-five 
miles long, and averaging three in width. Its shores are dotted 



THE TOURIST ROUTE. 77 

with summer residences, and its bosom bears numberless pleas- 
ure craft of varied form and design, while many steamers pi}' the 
lake for commercial purposes. The lake is reached by four lines 
of street railways, two cable and two electric. Adjoining Lake 
Washington, and but a short distance north, is L,ake Union, a 
smaller but fine lake, surrounded bj' pleasant homes ; and still 
another beautiful sheet of water is Green lake, northeast of the 
city. All of these lakes contain abundance of trout and other 
fish. Sixty miles away, to the south, snow-covered Mt. Rainier 
raises its lofty head, standing hoary and magnificent. It over- 
looks the great inland sea called Puget Sound, and the man)' 
cities and villages that thrive upon its shores. 

Among the numerous parks within easy distance of Seattle 
are Ravenna, Woodland, Madrona, Leschi, Madison Street and 
Kinnear, beautiful natural parks to which art has leant com- 
pleting touches. The cit}' has excellent schools, and the differ- 
ent religious denominations are well represented, there being 
fifty-six places of worship in the city. There are also two opera 
houses; the Seattle Theatre is one of the finest on the Pacific 
coast. The city is undoubtedly the commercial metropolis of the 
northwest. It is the entrepot for an immense stretch of country 
rich in lumber, coal and other natural resources; the wonderful 
shipment of lumber being the most important industry, although 
the coal business is large and steadily growing. Its citizens are 
enterprising, and the unanimity with which all labor for the 
common advancement of the cit3''s interest has often been com- 
mented upon with praise. 

Tacoma, called by its citizens the "City of Destiny," is situ- 
ated on Commencement Bay thirty miles south of Seattle, and is 
a point often visited by tourists en route to Alaska. Tacoma is 
an enterprising city of some forty-five thousand people, and has 
had a phenomenal growth. It is the second city in size and 
importance in the State and is modern in all respects, having 
many business enterpises, manufactures, electric and cable rail- 
ways, schools, churches, etc. South of the city about thirty 
miles distant, rises Mt. Rainier, but in Tacoma the name 
"Rainier" is never heard, except from a stranger or perhaps a 
Seattle man. Here it is lovingly referred to as " Mt. Tacoma," 
and the mountain with the dual name has been for years the 
source of much good natured badinage between the two rival 
cities of Puget Sound, as well as a source of amusement and 



78 ALASKA. 

sometimes of perplexity to those not acquainted with the con- 
tention over the name of the grand old sentinel which overlooks 
the great inland sea. 

A journey of fortj^ miles on the waters of Puget Sound brings 
the vessel to its first stop on the route — at Port Townsend — 
having a population of thirty-five hundred people. It is most 
picturesquely located, having a beautiful harbor with water of 
sufiicient width and depth to permit the largest ocean vessels to 
sail up to its wharves. The business portion of the town lies 
principally along the water front and the residences occupying a 
level plateau fifty feet or so above, affording a charming view of 
the Sound for many miles. On a commanding spot is a beautiful 
stone customs building just completed by the government at a 
cost of two hundred thousand dollars, and a half mile further to 
the west stands a strikingly handsome court house. This is the 
last port of entry in United States territory until Alaska is 
reached, and all vessels clear here before starting on their long 
voyage to the north. At present the only communication with 
the Puget Sound cities is by several lines of steamers each day, 
but there is good prospect of the railroad now running but a 
score or so miles to the south being extended so as to afford 
direct railroad communication with Olympia and the east. 

The Alaska boat usually takes on passengers in greater or 
less numbers at this port, discharging also freight and passen- 
gers for San Francisco, on its return voyage. 

A delightful ride of three hoiirs across the Strait of Juan de 
Fuca, where sometimes a little motion of the vessel is felt should 
wind blow from the ocean, seventy -five miles to the west, brings 
us to Victoria, where a wait of an hour or so affords opportunity 
for those who are desirous of doing so, to step on English soil 
and admire the handsome buildings, neat gardens and grass plats, 
and observe the manners of a community whose every appearance 
stamps them as wholly and essentially English. 

Just across the little strip of water, to the north, the staff 
bearing aloft the British flag can be seen, and under its shadow 
small squads of marines are distinguished going through a brief 
guard maneuvre, while an occasional blast from a bugle echoes a 
call across the water from the English naval station of the north 
Pacific at Esquimalt. 

When the steamer is again under way the journey to Alaska 
really begins, and the steady puffing of the engine and the vibra- 



THE TOURIST ROUTE. 79 

tion of the ship are felt for three days, while the six hundred and 
twenty-five miles before reaching the first stopping place in 
Alaska, twent}^ miles across the boundarj^ are traveled. 

It is not unusual, however, for the steamer to put in at 
Nanaimo, a town about sixty-five miles north of Victoria, on 
the east side of Vancouver island, for coal. Extensive deposits 
of a superior quality of bituminous coal are here located, large 
quantities of which are shipped to San Francisco and Alaska. 
About two thousand men are employed in these mines, and the 
coal is sold at three dollars per ton. Three miles north of 
Nanaimo, Departure Bay is also frequently visited for coal by 
Alaskan steamers. Vancouver island is about three hundred 
miles long by about fifty wide, and is the largest of the many 
islands on the coast of the North Pacific. It is densely wooded 
throughout, and its sides in many places are high and precipi- 
tous. The dense growth of timber and underbrush is inter- 
spersed with many little streams of water which, flowing down- 
ward, together with the deep indentations extending inland, lend 
beauty and variety to the scene. 

One hundred miles through the Gulf of Georgia, between 
Vancouver and Valdez islands, the narrow pass — Seymour Nar- 
rows — is reached. It has a tremendous current, and at ebb and 
flood tide is a veritable maelstrom, with whose swift flowing 
waters the most powerful machinery is unable to cope. At low 
tide, a shattered series of rocky ledges are seen, with torrents of 
water rushing between and over them, and the whirling cauldron 
is enough to strike terror to the heart of the most daring navi- 
gator. The passage is always made when the tide is nearly full. 
The captain of an Alaskan steamer, on one occasion, lost con- 
trol of his vessel here. It reeled and staggered as the mad 
waters lashed against its sides, and sought to drag it into the 
boiling sea. It swept around in the torrent, but finally drifted 
into less turbulent waters and passed through without encoun- 
tering any damage. 

The United States steamer Saranac was wrecked here in 1875. 
She was caught in the rush of waters, but succeeded in reaching 
the shore of Vancouver island, although after her officers and 
crew had safely landed, she w^as drawn into the whirlpool and 
sank out of sight. The United States steamer Wachuset, seven 
years later, had an exciting experience in these waters, but fin- 
ally stemmed the current and passed out, after having a portion 



So ALASKA. 

of her keel swept off by the fierce current. Man}- smaller vessels 
were partially or wholly wrecked before the dangers of these 
narrows became known. 

Johnstone strait for fifty-five miles, and Broughton strait for 
fifteen miles —immediately to the north — both pass between 
land more or less abrupt, and the picturesque scenery encoun- 
tered before Seymour Narrows is reached, is again presented. 
Johnstone strait opens into Queen Charlotte Sound, which for 
fift)" miles presents an expanse of water fifteen miles or so across, 
until it in turn meets the waters of Hecate strait. The broad 
expanse of the ocean is seen only while the ship is speeding over 
the thirty-five miles intervening, before she enters the land- 
locked shores of Fitz-Hugh Sound. From here to the end of the 
inland channel at Sitka, with the exception of fifteen miles at 
Milbank Sound, where in a south wind, and again at Dixon En- 
trance, the water may become rough for an hour or so, to add, 
as it were, a little spice to the smooth sailing which might other- 
wise become monotonous. 

Beginning here, the route is one continuous chain of labyrin- 
thian passages, winding hither and thither through narrow de- 
files, with mountains rising many hundred feet on both sides, 
covered from base to peak with a dense coat of fir, whose outline 
is mirrored in the water below. " The Mystic Maze " would be 
an appropriate name to apply to this enchanted route. Oftimes 
the prow of the ship is headed for what appears to be a moun- 
tainous barricade, but a sudden turn reveals a continuation of 
the pathway, and an outlet to endless charming nooks and glassy 
waters. 

The first glimpse of Alaska after emerging from Grenville 
channel, into the waters of Chatham sound which separates 
British, from American territory, is Tongas island, the home of 
a tribe of natives scarcely numbering three score, the remnant of 
a once numerous tribe. They occupy the site of old Fort Ton- 
gas which, during the first eight years after the acquisition, was 
the headquarters of a company of United States troops. No 
opportunity is afforded to examine the country in this vicinity 
save from the deck of the vessel. Thirty -five miles farther on 
Mary Island is sighted. The steamer blows a shrill whistle, the 
speed of the engine is slackened, and immediately, the stars and 
stripes are hoisted upon the staff of the Custom House. As 
soon as ihc anchor is lowered, the cai>tain goes ashore to execute 




The Treadwell Ledge. 



THE TOURIST ROUTE. 8i 

such papers as are necessary to comply with the laws and enable 
the vessel to proceed northward. At this station a deputy col- 
lector is taken aboard, who makes the trip to Sitka and return, 
and whose business it is to see that no whisky or other contra- 
band goods are landed or taken on board the ship. An hour is 
spent here, when the machiner}- is set in motion and the vessel 
again swings on its course towards New Metlakahtla. This 
point is off the main route some fifteen miles, so it is only when 
there are goods to be discharged that the vessel pauses at one 
of the most interesting points on the whole journe^^ An 
approach to New Metlakahtla shows, quietly nestling on the 
side of a gentle slope of ground, stretching back from a long 
pebbly beach, two or three hundred houses, many of them neatly 
painted, with a church edifice, large school building, store, saw- 
mill and salmon canning establishment. There is nothing about 
the appearance of the place, until the faces of the residents are 
seen, to suggest that it is the home of the Chim-sy-an tribe of 
natives, whom Mr. Duncan brought from Old Metlakahtla a few 
3'ears ago. Every branch of business pursued by whites, in 
towns of similar size, is here carried on, and the eight hundred 
and fifty or more people are thrifty and contented. In the chap- 
ter on the boundary dispute a more extended reference is made 
to Mr. Duncan and the people whom he has brought from the 
degradation of savagery to a high state of civilization. 

Retracing its course to Tongas Narrows, the steamer runs 
alongside of the wharf at Ketchikan. Six j^ears ago this was 
the site of a salmon cannery, which was destroyed by fire. It is 
now a trading post, and salmon are salted in large numbers. 
Should it be the season for the salmon to run, the little stream 
which flows down through the hills to the east of the village, 
will be literally filled with the humpback variety. Here the first 
postoffice in Alaska is found, and the first glimpse of the Alaskan 
Indian, in his native state, is also obtained here. 

A stop of an hour, and the steamer is ready to resume its 
course towards L,oring. The twenty-five mile distance is covered 
in about three hours, and the seat of what was, until the past 
three years, one of the most prolific red salmon streams in all 
Alaska, is found picturesquely located on the western slope of a 
high mountain. For a number of years from fifteen to twenty 
thousand cases of red salmon were packed each year by this 
establishment, but a system of trapping prevailed by which the 
6 



82 ALASKA. 

fish were prevented from ascending to the lake above, and this 
has very nearly exhausted the species. The pack is now mostly 
of the humpback variety. Just back of the cannery the spark- 
ling waters of Naha falls come thundering down fifty feet or 
more, and are considered the most beautiful of the many encoun- 
tered along the tourist route. 

At nine o'clock on the morning of the twenty-ninth day of 
August, 1889, the side-wheel steamer Ancon, which had for sev- 
eral years been engaged in carrying tourists to Alaska, in 
attempting to swing around, settled upon a reef within a few 
yards of the shore and, when the tide receded, broke in two and 
became a total wreck. The passengers were taken on their jour- 
ney a few days afterward by another steamer. The accident was 
the means of affording them several days of amusement, which 
the}' enjoyed to the fullest extent. 

From Loring to Fort Wrangel about ninety miles of charming 
scenery is passed, but no stop is made in that interval. Wrangel 
is the most picturesque as well as largest settlement yet visited. 
It has reached the phase in history when it lives only in the 
glory of ' ' by-gone days. ' ' For a number of years following the 
purchase of Alaska, it was the winter rendezvous of miners, who 
w-ere taking out thousands and hundreds of thousands of dollars 
in placer gold, at Cassiar and other British northwest territory 
mining camps, but these claims becoming exhausted, the life and 
activity of Wrangel also disappeared, until to-day a half hundred 
whites and two or three hundred natives occup}', with few excep- 
tions, the same log buildings that were erected during the days 
when gold was almost as plentiful as water. Considerable busi- 
ness, however, is done here to-day. There are several stores 
whose customers are principally natives, with whom goods are 
exchanged for furs; a large sawmill; a bonded warehouse, 
through which British goods must pass before being shipped 
into the territory, up the Stikine river, four miles to the north- 
east; a Presbyterian church, and the offices of the United States 
deputy collector and commissioner. Wrangel pursues the even 
tenor of its way, apparentl}^ satisfied with the present, and with 
recollections of its more varied past. This town was named for 
Baron Wrangel, who, in 1831, was the Russian governor. Here 
he constructed a fort, and his troops defeated a party in league 
with the Hudson's Bay Company, who had encroached upon his 
territorv to trafiic with the natives. Soon after our acquisition 



THE TOURIST ROUTE. 83 

the tort was garrisoned by two companies of United States troops. 
The arrangement of the plat, with barracks and officers' quar- 
ters standing on either side of the square, gives evidence to-day 
of the time it was occupied by these representatives of the Amer- 
ican army. Troops were withdrawn in 1870, but the garrison 
was again occupied by soldiers from 1875 to 1877, when all the 
troops were permanently withdrawn from Alaska. 

It is usual for steamers going north to remain at Wrangel long 
enough to reach the entrance to Wrangel Narrows, twenty -five 
miles north at high tide. This is, indeed, one of the most inter- 
esting portions of the whole trip. The passage through the 
Narrows covers a distance of twenty-five miles. At half tide, a 
hundred ton vessel drawing six feet of water could not make the 
passage on account of ledges of rocks and boulders stretched 
across the whole passage. Hard-a-port! Starboard! Steadj^! 
are constantly heard from the captain as the ocean steamer is 
turned close around the buoys, that locate the shallow water and 
hidden reefs. While danger need not be apprehended in case of 
accident in this passage, for the waters do not surge through 
with the force that causes Seymour Narrows to be dreaded, yet 
the alertness of the officers, and the caution exercised in piloting 
the steamer, arrest the attention of the passengers, and give rise 
to expressions of admiration for the skill of the mariners, who 
have charge of the craft. Upon emerging from the Narrows a 
glimpse of the first glacier of any note is had. It bears the name 
of Patterson, and looms six thousand feet upward, while its ser- 
pentine form is seen winding over the mountain, and is finally 
eclipsed by the towering magnificence of the Devil's Thumb, 
pointing heavenward at an altitude of nine thousand feet. This, 
too, is lost to view, as the vessel bears westward to Cape Fanshaw, 
where the course is straight away for the metropolis of Alaska, 
seventy miles distant at the head of Gastineau channel. 

On the right, twelve miles before reaching Juneau, Taku inlet 
opens into the channel. It is one of the favorite points of inter- 
est for tourists, and the glaciers winding down through the 
mountains, are visible for a long distance and pour into the inlet 
with a front of a mile or more. 

The Taku river leading into the interior, is the stream Schwatka 
ascended on his last trip into Alaska, in the spring of 1S91, and 
it is from the head of canoe navigation on this river that a party 
of British surveyors made explorations during the past winter 



84 ALASKA. 

for the purpose of ascertaining the practicability of constructing 
a trail into the interior. 

There is a natural route from this river to the Yukon of but 
ninety miles to water communication on the inside, but about 
thirt}' miles of that distance lies through a low, swampy country, 
that before it could be used, as a route, would have to be cordu- 
royed. 

The town of Juneau is located at the base of a mountain that 
rises almost perpendicularly for nearly three thousand feet, form- 
ing a most picturesque background to this little city. Juneau is 
an ideal mining camp. Every building in the town, and every 
inhabitant, bears the aspect of activity and prosperit}' peculiar to 
live mining camps. It has but few streets, and they are crooked 
and narrow. 

With but few exceptions, the inhabitants have not found time 
to clear their lots of the stumps or gnarled roots that litter, as 
well as make a rustic ornament for every door j^ard. But there 
are a number of handsome residences and neat business houses; 
and a system of water works that draws its supply from the 
purest of mountain streams, and an electric light plant which for 
four months of the j^ear, gives waj- to the brilliant light of heaven's 
sun, taking its turn again for four months in the winter, except- 
ing only a few hours at mid-day. 

All roads lead to Rome, it is said, and all routes in Alaska 
lead to Juneau. The Yukon miner comes here to outfit for his 
long and hazardous trip into the interior; all travelers who come 
to Alaska, whether for business or pleasure, and even the United 
States Court, if in session at Sitka, the capital, comes here for 
nineteen-twentieths of its jurors, without whom it could not 
transact business. Juneau is rightly called the metropolis. 
Whether she will retain this prestige remains to be seen. If so, 
one of two things must occur. She must plane down the sides of 
her mountains or erect sk3'-scraping buildings with elevators to 
accommodate her populace, for nearly every foot of available 
ground is already occupied. 

The population of Juneau numbers about two thousand 
souls; and the enterprise of the people, and volume of business, 
are shown by the support given to the three newspapers here 
published. The Mining Record, the oldest paper published here, 
is devoted especially to the mining interests of the country. 
The Searchlight, a metropolitan-appearing journal, in general 



THE TOURIST ROUTE. 85 

make-up and contents, is a credit to the city and its enterprising 
proprietor. The JVczcs, also an excellent publication, is more 
local in its character, and helps to make a trio of weekly papers 
which vie with each other in the publication of reliable informa- 
tion concerning this great territory. 

As the steamer turns in its course from the metropolis towards 
the capital, it retraces its way for twelve miles, and on the right, 
two miles from Juneau, passes the works which constitute the 
great Treadwell mine. Dense columns of smoke are seen issuing 
from the chlorination works which are here burning that part of 
the ore which the batteries have not been able to separate from 
the gold. Its poisonous vapors that the humid atmosphere has 
crowded down the mountain sides have bleached the timber grow- 
ing there almost as white as the ragged and jagged ledges laid 
bare by the incessant explosions of dynamite that occur in this 
mine day and night from one year's end to another. 

At the end of Douglas island the ship's prow is turned north- 
ward towards L,ynn canal; but which arm it a.scends, whether 
Chilkoot or Chilkat inlet, depends upon the nature of the busi- 
ness calling the vessel thither. If to Chilkoot, a view is afforded 
of the country through which the miner starts with his pack over 
the portage of twenty- eight miles to the headwaters of that great 
river, the Yukon, and also, upon the left-hand side, the neat 
and attractive buildings of the Presbyterian mission at Haines. 

If the steamer has taken the Chilkat inlet, at the head of navi- 
gation, to the right-hand is the town of Chilkat, whose location 
is marked by a cannery, store and a few other buildings. Fur- 
ther to the left is the route recently located by Mr. Jack Dalton, 
who has discovered a way into the interior of Alaska, whence 
the Yukon river may be reached over a country having a gradual 
ascent and descent, with no high mountains to interfere, thus, 
forming a natural route for the construction of a railroad into the 
great interior. Everybody but the projector and his native 
employes remains yet in blissful ignorance of the nature of the 
country passed over. But it is certain that a native in Dalton's 
employ traveled on foot all the way from the Yukon river to- 
Chilkat, last fall, in fourteen days. This spring Mr. Dalton 
established a pack train over this route, and upwards of twenty 
horses are now engaged in transporting supplies for^his trading 
posts in the interior. 



86 ALASKA. 

As the ship turns about to resume its course, Davidson glacier 
appears on the right. This is the first good view of a glacier yet 
had, and it looks as if a might}^ river winding down from the 
mountain had suddenly congealed while pouring its torrent into 
the sea below. Davidson glacier has its head a few miles to the 
west, and is a spur of the series of glaciers that form the frigid 
bulwarks of ice in Glacier baj', whose fronts rise perpendicularly 
from the water. The Davidson glacier, however, slopes gradu- 
ally down leaving a moraine covered with low wnllow and alder 
trees. 

A distance of sixt}' miles to the south is made before the 
ship's course is changed into Icy strait, and is now among float- 
ing ice, which maj- be encountered in such quantities as to 
impede the progress of the ship through the entrance into the 
bay. The prows of all the vessels are protected with heavy tim- 
bers, and one experiences the shock caused by the crashing of 
the vessel into the bergs and floating ice as it pursues its course. 
"When within the baj- it is in a sea of floating ice, dodging its 
waj^ through the heavy "pack" past Willoughby island, until 
it comes to anchor wathin two miles of the front of the celebrated 
Muir glacier. The island just referred to is named after Professor 
Willoughb)', one of the early pioneers of California. As a boj- 
he was in the vangi;ard of the "forty-niners;" picked up nug- 
gets as large as walnuts at Suter's mill with Marshall; moved 
along into Fraser river, Cariboo and Cassiar mining camps; and 
was among the early placer miners in the camps of Southeast 
Alaska. He piloted the first vessel into Glacier bay, and was 
there when Professor Muir made his first investigation of the 
wonderful river of ice that bears his name. 

Professor Willoughbj' is a typical frontiersman. He is said 
to have made more extensive explorations in Southeast Alaska 
than any other man, and to have found more good mineral 
deposits than he knows what to do with. His claims on Admir- 
alty island are among the most promising quartz locations in the 
territory, and the sale of this property will probably bring him 
more monej^ than he will be able to spend. 

My first visit to Alaska, in the spring of 18S9, was in the 
interest of newspapers. I was looking for just such a person as 
Professor Willoughby to furnish me information about the coun- 
try. His acquaintance supplied me with means for building up 
a series of letters upon a sul)ject that made them the most profit- 




Crevasse on Top of Muir Glacier. 

LaRoche, Photo, Seattle, Wash, 



THE TOURLST ROUTE. 87 

alile newspaper articles I ever wrote, and w^hich appeared in 
nian)^ of the leading papers of the country, The "Silent City " 
of Glacier bay helped also to make it more noted, brought thou- 
sands of dollars to the person who claimed to have photographed 
a "mirage of an unknown city," in this bay, from the sale of 
photographs of the same, and caused a vast amount of discussion 
on the subject of mirages. Many persons pronounced it a 
"fake," others a good joke, while some looked upon it in the 
light of a phenomenon that it was reasonable should occur, on 
account of the peculiar condition of the atmosphere that prevails 
in this locality'. 

If I thought the story a monstrous and ridiculous fake, grati- 
tude to the man who furnished me with the sinews from which 
to weave the interesting tale, would prevent my denouncing it 
as such; and, if I knew it to be a joke, I would consider it the 
most interesting, as well as the least harmless, that has ever 
come under my observation. 

Two years previous to my arrival at Juneau, Professor Wil- 
loughby had been exhibiting a negative of a picture which he said 
he had succeeded in taking of a cit}' which appeared above the face 
of the glacier in the longest da5^s of each year, and which was 
brought to his attention by the natives, who called it the silent 
city. He procured a camera, and in three successive years made 
the journe}- in a canoe with natives, and each time was able to 
make an exposure, but the plate that had been exposed the third 
3^ear proved upon development to be the onh' one that contained 
a picture of the city. It was a weird-looking negative and, con- 
templating it while the professor told the storj' with the utmost 
earnestness and sincerit}-, one could not but be interested and 
inclined to believe it to be true. He said that the city always 
appeared as if suspended in the air, just in front of the Fair- 
weather range of mountains. The atmosphere was so clear that 
the peaks many miles to the north were distinctly seen, and 
ever)^ ridge and wallow and curve of the icy crust that envel- 
oped them could not have been more clearly defined had they 
been but a stone's throw away. That while asleep in his tent 
one morning, a native called to him excitedly " to get up;" and 
upon looking to the north he saw a strange looking object hang- 
ing over the sides of the mountain, and following the direction 
of a stream or glow of light which seemed to radiate from the 
range squarely down upon the glaciers at the head of the bay. 



88 ALASKA. 

Gradually it became more distinct, and soon assumed the appear- 
ance of a city of immense proportions, stretching out into the 
distance until its furthermost limits were lost to view. The 
style of architecture was new to him. Buildings of massive 
dimensions extended in solid and unbroken blocks as far as the 
eye could reach. The solemn walls of cathedrals arose almost 
to the skies, and his imagination reveled in silvery music, 
chanted to a chorus of tinkling bells, that was wafted out from 
the frescoed aisles through the openings of gorgeously painted 
windows. The entire limits of the city were confined within a 
halo of light, dense, yet transparent, pouring its soft glow upon 
roof and wall and window in glorious transformation. To the 
right and left a range of mountains, covered with the garb of 
winter, formed the background. The tops of buildings, and the 
spires of churches, appeared to pierce its ghostl}^ robes, yet not 
one breath of their chilled presence extended within the portals 
of the city. Again, he seemed to hear the bells from the steeples 
of a hundred churches mingling sweet and happy melody; 3'et, 
within the whole length and breadth of this boundless city, not 
one soul could be seen. Not even a shadow darkened the light 
for an instant. All was silent as the grave, when suddenly the 
vision began to move away. Its glories and grandeur lured him 
with a fascination which he could not resist. But, as he walked 
forward, it seemed to recede with even pace. Gradually, though 
he quickened his steps to get within the silent portals before 
it was too late, it was wafted into space and finally lost to 
view. 

In the summer of 1S89 I accompanied Professor Willoughby to 
Glacier bay, and spent six weeks in exploring the glaciers and 
surrounding country. Anxious to see the spot where he claimed 
to have witnessed this wonderful sight, although, I feel free to 
say, I did not live in very high expectations of gazing upon the 
silent city. One day we ascended the side of a mountain to a 
level space affording a glorious view of the whole bay. He took 
me to a pile of rocks, laid carefully one upon another, to a height 
of perhaps five feet. Slowly he commenced to throw off rock 
after rock until an opening was made in the center, and, insert- 
ing his arm, he drew out what appeared to be a scroll or book 
made from several leaves of birch bark. It was badly mildewed, 
and upon unrolling it a pencil fell to the ground. The half-dozen 
pages looked bright, however, and contained a record stating 




»* 










THE TOURIST ROUTE. 89 

that the object of three trips made to this locality, in as many 
different years, was to secure a photograph of the city. 

During the six weeks I spent with Professor Willoughby, the 
relations between us, in camp and in our travels, were such as 
to encourage an exchange of confidences on many subjects, and 
although the subject of the silent cit3=^ and mirages was often 
referred to, he never bj' word or implication gave me any reason 
to think that his story was other than a true one. 

The cit3^ after the lapse of some time, was finally identified 
as Bristol, England. In order for it to have appeared in the 
manner claimed, it must have been reflected a distance of several 
thousand miles. 

Words can scarceh^ describe the awful grandeur of Muir 
glacier, whether viewed from the deck of a ship standing close to 
the front, which extends for two miles across and towers in 
scalloped and jagged surface tw^o hundred and fifty feet high, or 
while walking on its top among thousands of seams and cre- 
vasses, which descend in yawning chasms to interminable depths. 
Is it any wonder that, when gazing at this spectacle, one is lost 
in awe as he sees a solid body of ice winding for many miles 
through mountain gorges, breaking off" in irregular blocks, many 
of them a hundred feet square, and tumbling into the water 
below ? Is it any wonder that the crash and thundering echo 
can be heard for miles ? Is it any wonder that the bottom of 
this grand inland sea is a hundred fathoms or more deep, when 
such huge sections of ice, falling from dizzy heights, send the 
spray nearly to the top of the glacier as they go plowing onward 
towards the sea ? 

I have seen a single block of ice measuring at least four hun- 
dred feet square, with forty feet extending above the water, 
silently moving down the bay. Fresh water ice is said to float 
with seven-eighths below the surface, so in this instance the berg 
must have been three hundred and twenty feet thick. 

Among glaciers, nature is seen in its grandest, most awful 
and sullen mood. The continual caving leaves the glaciers with 
lacerated fronts that assume the shape of obelisks, pinnacles and 
turreted roofs of castles, set with a background of blue which, 
when touched with the rays of the sun, send back the hues of 
the topaz, diamond and sapphire in sparkling scintillations. 

How mau}^ years shall elapse before the last of the glaciers 
disappears from the bay can hardly be calculated, but they are 



90 ALASKA. 

slowly receding and will, before manj' j-ears, become a wonder 
of the past. There are ten other living glaciers as large as the 
Muir, besides a number of smaller ones in the bay, and at the 
extreme northern end is one nearly as large again as the Muir. 
On the coast two hundred and fifty miles west from Sitka, the 
great Malispina glacier presents a front of over twenty-five miles 
to the sea. A few miles further west they almost entireh* disap- 
pear, and are only found in a few localities just back from the 
coast in the interior. 

About three o'clock on the morning of May 14th, i88g, as we 
were approaching Glacier bay, Captain William George, pilot of 
the steamer " George W. Elder," roused me from a sound slum- 
ber, to come out and see a most startling sight. I dressed 
hurriedl3% and in a few moments was standing on the upper 
deck; looking straight ahead, I could see snow-clad peaks tower- 
ing to the skies, seemingly rising from the water's edge. The 
sound of six bells had just died away when the sun rose above the 
eastern horizon, sending a shower of ra3^s across the water and 
up against the sides of the Fairweather range, sixty miles away; 
the highest of which were Crillon 16,000 feet, Fairweather 15,000 
feet, lyituya 11,000 feet, and Perouse 15,000 feet. A faint line 
was visible extending along the base of the mountains, and as 
our ship was sailing at the rate of eight knots per hour, the 
captain told me to make the best of my opportunit}^ for the awe- 
inspiring monarchs would soon disappear from view behind the 
mountains at their feet. Soon I began to realize that they were 
fast giving way to the dark line ahead which rose higher and 
higher until we were confronted by a range of mountains three 
thousand feet or more high, standing directly across our path, 
and nothing was left of the imposing spectacle which, but a short 
time before, greeted my eyes. 

The following lines were written at the time and dedicated to 
Captain George, for his kindness in affording me an opportunity 
to witness the grandest sight I ever beheld: 

High up from out the waters. 

Far-reaching to the sky. 
Grandly from the mainland, 

Right glorious greet the eye. 
Four sharp-peaked snowy monarchs. 

Clothed full in white array, 
Fairweather's three companions stand, 

To hail the dawn of dav. 



THE TOURIST ROUTE. 91 

From out the sullen stillness. 

Of night's bleak, wizen pall, 
These monarchs stand in glory, 

Right regal monarchs all. 
Their hoary heads uplifted. 

Majestic to the sk}-. 
And at their feet green mountains stand, 

Like pigmies wondering nigh. 

Three thousand feet towards the sky, 

They seek to look above. 
And clothed in furr}- coats of green. 

Are bathed in tears of love. 
From out P'air weather's frigid eyes. 

Kissed by the sun's soft rays. 
Love's pearly drops increasing fall. 

Through da3's and years, alwa3-s. 

And high above, as they look down. 

These regal forms appear 
To warn and say " no farther come, 

Your pathway leads not here. 
To waters deep, 3-our sail turn back. 

Else in our shrouds of snow, 
Vestments made ready for the skies. 

We'll mourn in clouds of woe." 

On through the smooth and mirrored brine. 

Our ship sails swift and far. 
But full as swift, aye, swifter yet, 

Fairweather sinks his star. 
Behind the green hills near and wild. 

These spectres disappear, 
Nor wait to heed a message sent. 

Though words of joy and cheer. 

Come back, old hoarj- headed kings! 

From out the heavens on high ; 
Come back, and show your snow-gemmed crowns, 

To our enchanted eye! 
Why seek ye rest beyond the clouds ? 

Why must ye hasten on ? 
What, gone so soon ? then fare 3-e well, 

Lituya! Perouse! Crillon! ! 

The day spent in Glacier bay ends only too quickly, but the 
ship must travel one hundred and fifty miles further before 
reaching the terminus of the route, at Sitka, Nearly one hun- 
dred miles of this course is due south, then the ship turns to feel 
its way for thirty miles in Peril strait. This stretch of water is, 



92 ALASKA. 

as the name implies, a difficult and dangerous passage, and is 
attempted only in pleasant weather. The water surges and 
rushes at the rate of six or eight knots an hour, and like Seymour 
Narrows, is run only at high slack, or between that and high 
water. Its path is strewn with rocks and reefs, and its swiftest 
water points are designated as Upper and Lower rapids. At 
least two officers of the ship are always on the bridge, for here, 
as ever)' where throughout the long journe}- through the inland 
waters, their keen vigilance is never for a moment relaxed. 

Twent}' miles more and the booming of the cannon from the 
deck of the steamer warns the passengers that another port is 
reached. Its sullen roar echoes among the hills and announces 
to the inhabitants that another ' ' steamer day " is at hand. 
Another messenger from civilization has knocked at their doors, 
bringing anxiously looked-for tidings from home and friends to 
those who, from choice or circumstance, have found an abiding 
place vipon our most remote frontier. 

Sitka became the capital of Russian- America under the admin- 
istration of Alexander Baranoff, who served as governor of the 
Russian colonies from July 27th, 1791, until January nth, 1818, 
his predecessor, the first governor, having served from August 
3rd, 1784, until July the 27th, 1791. The seat of government at 
that time was at Kadiak, Kadiak island, five hundred miles west 
of Sitka. 

The especial point upon which the interest of the tourist cen- 
tered, in Sitka, was Baranoff castle, built by the governor in 
1 813. It was situated on the top of a hill and commanded a view 
of the broad expanse of the ocean and of the beautiful harbor, 
which was studded with many small islands covered with the 
freshest of evergreen trees and a profusion of the loveliest and 
brightest verdure. The channels between these islands admit of 
the passage of the largest ocean steamers, and on a sunshiny da}^ 
the view is most charming. 

The castle, an imposing structure, built of logs of huge dimen- 
sions, was divided into capacious rooms. On one side was a 
banquet hall running the whole length of the building, and here, 
during the occupancy of the Russians, many wild scenes of 
revelry were enacted. In order to preserve this structure from 
decay, our government expended $11,000 three years ago, but 
just after the work was completed it took fire through some mys- 
terious cause and was burned to the ground. 



THE TOURIST ROUTE. 



93 



Many stories are told, some of them replete with wild romance 
and crime of early days when Russian barons and beautiful prin- 
cesses passed days and nights within the castle in joyous living. 
It is said that Olga Arbuzoff, a niece of Governor Mooraveff, 
committed suicide by thrusting a dagger into her heart on the 
fifth day of March, 1826, the very day of her marriage to Count 
Nicholas Vassileff. The count was old, ugly and of coarse 
morals, and the lovely princess very naturall}^ hated him. Her 
uncle, however, compelled her to marry him, though she in- 
sisted that she would take her life if he persisted in his demands. 
The princess was very much in love with a young midshipman 
named Demetrius Davidoff, who was j-oung, handsome and an 
accomplished gentleman, and whom the governor, when he found 
thev were in love with each other, sent away on a six months' 




BARANOFF CASTLE. 



cruise. In the meantime the nuptials between the princess and 
the count were hurried to a consummation. The very night of 
the wedding the young lover returned and went immediately to 
the castle. As soon as the princess saw him she uttered a cry, 
and rushing into his arms, snatched his dagger from its sheath 
and plunging it into her breast, fell to the floor dead. The 
horror-stricken j^outh immediately drove it into his own heart 
and fell dead by the side of his sweetheart. The following day 
they were both buried in the same grave. From one of the win- 
dows in the banquet hall their last resting place was pointed out. 



94 ALASKA. 

marked by a simple Greek cross standing at the head of the 
mound. 

The white population of Sitka does not exceed five hundred, 
including the actual residents, territorial officials, and members 
of the naval force here stationed. The natives number about 
nine hundred and occupy a portion of the town known as the 
"ranche." 

The Greek church with its dome painted blue and chime of 
bells stands at the head of the street. It is a striking, and 
rather imposing structure, but its most interesting feature is 
found inside. The altar decorations and the doors separating 
the inner sanctuary from the body of the church are trulj' 
gorgeous. The painting of the Madonna and other biblical 
figures are superbly set in silver and gold. Many of the natives 
are members of this church, and the ceremonies are of an inter- 
esting and unusual character, the congregation standing and 
kneeling, alternately, during the service. 

About a half mile south the Sitka industrial school is located. 
It is an institution where native children are taken in j-outh and 
taught various trades. It is supported by the Presbyterian 
Missionary Society, the general government assisting in the 
expense of maintaining it. 

One of the most interesting places to the tourist at the Alaskan 
capital is the Jackson Museum, near the industrial school, con- 
taining one of the largest collections of Alaska curios in the 
United States. -Many of the articles here deposited, were col- 
lected by Dr. Sheldon Jackson in his travels throughout the 
territory. 

"77/^ Alaskan " is the oldest paper in the territory, and being 
published at the capital is much sought after Ijy people abroad, 
who wish to keep informed in regard to the progress of the 
territory. 

Looking across the bay ta the north, Mt. Edgecombe, an 
extinct volcano, is plainly seen with the mouth of the crater 
clearly defined at the summit. An excursion to the mountain 
and into the crater, five hundred feet deep, forms a very inter- 
esting trip, but can hardly be made during the one day's wait of 
the steamer. The ascent of Mt. Ver.stovoi, which form a beau- 
tiful background to this picturesque town, can be accomplished 
in two or three hours, and the view obtained from the summit 
well repays one for the effort. 



THE TOURIST ROUTE. 95 

From the top of Mt. Verstovoi may be seen the great unknown 
country stretching on and on to the westward. The tourist 
never visits it, but as the steamer floats out from the peaceful 
Sitka harbor "'homeward bound/' the "far ofif unknown" is 
seen to fade away in solemn beauty. By and by this region will 
be opened up to the pleasure seeker, when it will afford a fitting 
climax to a tour of the grandest scenic route in the world, that 
which threads the mystic mazes between Puget sound and Sitka. 

In closing this chapter on the tourist route, there seems to be 
need of a passing reference to the great scenic route of the 
Northern Pacific Railroad, which, taken before proceeding to 
Alaska, or after the pleasures of that journey have been experi- 
enced, makes the round complete, and one feels that he has seen 
all there is of the grand, the sublime, and the beautiful in nature, 
in all its moods. 

To our mind, Yellowstone park presents the only wonders on 
this continent that can appropriately be coupled with those of 
Alaska, and the Grand canyon, the geysers and hot springs of 
this great government reservation, offer food for thought and 
enchantment for the eye that language cannot faithfully portray. 
The Northern Pacific Railroad Company has just issued a complete 
and artistic publication entitled, " Sketches of Wonderland." It 
is beautifully and elaborately illustrated, and replete with infor- 
mation concerning the scenic points of the northwest, charmiagly 
and graphicall}^ described. 

This company have, with their excellent regular service, a 
tourists' schedule which affords an opportunity of visiting the 
Minnesota summer resorts, Yellowstone park and the main and 
branch lines of its road threading through Montana and Wash- 
ington, thence south through Oregon and California from Seattle, 
via steamer or rail. 

Excursion tickets from Chicago and St. Paul to Taconia and 
Seattle, and return, are on sale in all railroad offices; present rates 
for round trip tickets, good for stop-overs at all points in either 
direction and limited to nine months are |i 10 and $90 respectively. 
These tickets if desired will be made good to return via any other 
direct line. 

Alaska steamer excursion tickets are sold from Tacoma or 
Seattle to Sitka and return, at reduced rates, including meals 
and berth on the steamer. State-rooms can be secured in ad- 
vance by application to any railroad or steamship office. 



CHAPTER X. 



ALASKA INDIANS. 







'^r" 



Y;^ HENCE came the Alaska 
native ? Is a question that 
will probably never be sat- 
isfactorily determined, as 
no record or written history 
furnishes a clew, but the 
consensus of opinion seems 
to point to an Asiatic origin. 
Professor Dall in his re- 
port on the distribution, 
origin, etc., of the native 
races of the northwestern 
territory, believes the na- 
tives of Alaska were once inhabitants of the interior of America, 
and that they were forced to the west and north, by tribes of In- 
dians from the south. He can, in no way, connect them with the 
Japanese or the Chinese, either by dress, manner, or language. 

Mr. L. M. Turner, who spent a number of years among the 
Aleutian islands and on the east Bering coast as far north as Norton 
sound, reports to the Smithsonian Institute, that the Innuits or 
Eskimo, without doubt, populated this country from the coast of 
Greenland, and that he found no trouble in tracing a relationship, 
and proof that the migration was from the east to the west. 

Professor Otis T. Mason, of the same institution, takes the posi- 
tion that the emigration came from Asia to this continent, and 
that the Alaska Innuits are, undoubtedly, of Mongolian origin. 
We also are constrained to take the latter view, and believe 
they once came across Bering strait. It is an easy matter for the 
most casual observer, to note the marked points of resemblance 
between the Japanese, and the Innuit and Indian of Alaska. The 
same straight, black hair, olive complexion, small stature, almond 



ALASKA INDIANS. 97 

shaped eye and unusually small hands and feet, are, to our 
mind, unmistakable evidences of kinship. 

They are not an inventive people, but are decidedly and 
emphatically imitative, a trait in the Japanese character always 
so conspicuous, and their genius seems best illustrated in the 
nicety of their carving, and their skill in weaving the most deli- 
cate fabrics. 

The aborigines of any country are quick to adopt the vices of 
the white man, but much slower in assuming his virtues. This 
is not to be wondered at, as usually the whites with whom they 
first come in contact are not of a class whose virtues are conspicu- 
ous, and the unsuspecting native has the smooth paths of vice 
pointed out more often than the steep and rugged road of virtue. 
The aborigines' love of intoxicants is great, and he will do 
almost anything to procure them. • 

When the Russians first occupied the country, they taught 
the native to make quass, a cooling and comparatively harmless 
drink, concocted of rye meal mixed with water which they placed 
in a cask until fermented. Latterly the native learned to add 
sugar, flour, dried apples and a few hops, putting the whole into 
a cask until cleared by fermentation. A strong intoxicant is the 
result. Another home brewed intoxicant, called hoochinoo, is 
made of fermented molasses and flour, and is a vile kind of 
liquor. When imbibed, it fairly crazes the natives, fitting them 
for any deeds of violence or viciousness. They are fond of 
Jamaica ginger, lemon extract, Florida water, cologne, or in fact, 
anything having fragrance or a "tang." 

Totem poles are found in every village along the southeastern 
coast. There is some difference of opinion as to their real signifi- 
cance. They are intended, in part, to commemorate deeds of 
bravery, or some virtue, in the lives of the departed, near whose 
graves they are reared ; also to indicate the family arms of the 
persons for whom they are erected, and whose habitations they 
adorn. Some tribes are represented by the crow or the hawk ; 
others have the bear, the whale, or the beaver, as '.their distinctive 
tribal emblem. These poles are elaborately carved from top 
to bottom, some reaching the height of fifty feet, and being three 
or four feet in diameter. The height signifies the importance of 
the individual. These people have an oral mythology of the 
most fabulous character, handed down from father to son. Many 
7 



98 ALASKA. 

of the curious carvings on the totem poles are designed to tell, 
in story, some event in the history or tribe of the individual. 

Despite the efforts of missionaries and teachers, and the influ- 
ence of civilization, witchcraft is still believed in to a greater or 
less extent. Evil spirits still take possession of the old, the 
decrepid, and the deformed, sometimes of the young, and these 
must be exorcised ; it being considered a matter of duty to dis- 
possess the unfortunate of his tormentors. Death sometimes 
results from the tortures undergone by those "bewitched." 

Cremation was formerly practiced throughout the whole coast 
country of Alaska, but it is fast disappearing now, except where 
it is followed by tribes removed from missionary influences. It 
may be here suggested, however, that the energies expended by 
missionaries and teachers in eradicating this custom, time hon- 
ored in its antiquity, might have borne better fruits if spent in 
other directions. 

The dead are usually placed in boxes, not long enough to 
permit the whole body to recline at full length, so it is disjointed 
and placed in a sitting posture, and the box kept above ground. 
Sometimes the location of a grave is on a high point, where the 
departed spirit can look out upon his former haunts. Some of 
the personal effects of the deceased are often placed beside him . 

The shamans, or doctors are never cremated, but lie in state 
four daj's — one day in each corner of the dwelling — then the 
corpse is conveyed to the dead house, where it is seated in an 
upright position, with blankets and paraphernalia to add to its 
comfort in the spirit land. 

Among the Thlinkits, the name by which most of the natives 
in Southeast Alaska are known, cremation was formerly the favorite 
method of disposing of the dead. The bodies of "witches" 
and slaves were disposed of with great secrecy, but those of 
chiefs lay in state. The people observed certain rites, then the 
body was cremated, the totem pole erected to his memory, and 
his ashes were incased in the base. 

There is positive evidence that cannibalism was practiced 
among the.se people upon the death of chiefs ; the sacrifice of 
slaves was common, that their spirits might accompany them 
into the spirit land. It is highly probable that the bodies of 
these slaves were cooked and eaten. Medicine men have some- 
times been known to devour portions of corpses, believing that 
they would accjuire control of the spirit and gain influence over 



ALASKA INDIANS. 



99 



demon spirits. As the giant tree yields to the axe of the wood- 
man, so are most of these practices and customs giving way be- 
fore the advance of civilization. 




■ INDIAN DOCTOR. 

The Alaska Indians are inveterate gamblers. The favorite 
game is played with a handful of small sticks of different colors, 
called bj^ various names, such as crab, whale, duck, otter, etc. 
The player shuffles all the sticks together, then places them 
under bunches of moss. The object is to guess under which pile 
is the whale or the duck, etc. Simple as it looks, the natives 
often lose all their po.ssessions at the game. This kind of gamb- 
ling is much the same as that called "sing-gamble" among 



lOo ALASKA. 

Puget Sound Indians, the latter of whom accompan}- the shuffling 
and hiding of sticks with a weird chant. 

They are remarkably expert in carvang and engraving, as the 
numerous totem poles, arrowheads, spearheads, and silver and 
copper ornaments prove. Bullets, spearheads and arrowheads, 
as well as ornaments of various kinds, are made by the natives 
of copper, found on White river in the interior country and not 
on Copper river, as is generally' supposed. Baskets of ingenious 
design and coloring are made from grasses and roots: and the 
celebrated Chilkat blanket is made from the wool of the moun- 
tain sheep. Some of these blankets are realh* beautiful in design 
and workmanship, many of them being sold for one hundred 
dollars. The}^ are woven on rude hand looms, and it usual!}'- 
takes a native woman six months to complete one. The real 
article is, however, becoming scarce, as most of those now seen 
contain an admixture of the coarse yarn of commerce. 

Before the strong arm of the law stepped in, an injury of one 
native by another could be satisfied by the payment of some 
article of value, usually a blanket. Even murder could be 
atoned for and forgiven, if a sufficient number of blankets were 
handed over to the murdered man's relatives. The law of "An 
eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth," was modified b}- these 
people.' An innocent person might be sacrificed, and this was 
considered an equivalent and taken as full satisfaction and the 
murderer was allowed to go free. 

The canoe of the native is to him a necessity. It is made of 
wood in Southeast Alaska; in the far north of skins. In the 
southern portions the wood selected is usually the red and yellow 
cedar. Manj^ of these canoes have graceful lines, elaborately 
carved prows and sterns, and are frequentl)' large enough to 
carry forty or fifty men. They are cut out of the whole tree, the 
magnificent yellow cedar, which frequently grows to a great 
height, and is from seven to ten feet in diameter, furnishing the 
best. The sides are carefully modeled, worked and bent, so as 
to have the required graceful curve, by using hot water, and the 
canoe, when finished and dried, always retains the shape given 
to it by the builder. 

The Chinook jargon, a coml)ination of French and English, 
invented and used by the Hudson's Bay Company for use in 
trading with the natives of Oregon, Washington, and the British 
American possessions, still prevails among the whites and 



ALASKA INDIANS. loi 

natives in the coast country, and to a limited extent in the in- 
terior, but it almost entirely disappears after leaving Sitka going 
west, where the Russian language is spoken mainly among the 
Aleutian islands. 

The paint used by the natives to decorate their canoes, 
totems, and faces, is of two colors only, red and black. It is 
made of a kind of rock found in the country, which is rubbed over 
the surface of a coarse stone, and as it is ground off, water or oil 
is mixed with it, and it makes a very excellent substitute for 
paint. Brushes are made of feathers, or the sinews of animals. 
The Eskimo of the Arctic find the same kind of stone in that 
region, and use it for painting or decorating their sleds. The 
Aleuts, especially west of Unalaska, are artistic in their work 
with grasses and roots, and the delicacy with which the}'- weave 
and braid them evinces wonderful skill. 

It is the practice of the natives of Southeast Alaska to blacken 
their faces in summer, by rubbing in soot mixed with seal oil. 
This is done to prevent the sun blistering them when traveling 
on the water. It also acts as a shade to their eyes, which would 
otherwise suffer from the glaring reflection of the sun's rays. 

The houses of natives in Southeast Alaska are constructed of 
hewn boards or planks, and in some of the larger villages they 
are built of massive logs, very similar to the log houses built by 
whites in heavily timbered countries. In the center there is a 
square opening, eight or ten feet across, which is neatly filled 
with gravel upon which the fire is built. The smoke ascends to 
the roof through an opening made lengthwise, with the comb 
several feet long, of boards or thin slabs, that can be raised on 
either side so as to make a perfect draft, according to the direc- 
tion the wind is blowing. Around the fireplace, the floor is 
built a few inches high, and bunks are placed against the sides 
of the house in such number as the occupants require. There 
is rarely more than one room in the house. 

The house of the Aleut or natives of the Aleutian archipel- 
ago is called a barabara, and is a sort of a sod house and dug- 
out combined. The entrance is usually by a dark and narrow 
opening, through which the natives crawl, and which leads into 
the main room. 



ALASKA. 




IIOX. WAKRKX TKriTT. 



Hon. Warren Truitt, Judge of the United States District Court for Alaska* 
whose term of office has nearly expired, will probably enjoy the distinction of 
being the only Judge who held his position during the full four years for 
which he was appointed, his predecessors either resigning or were removed 
before the expiration of their term. He was appointed bj' President Harri- 
son, and is the only Republican officeholder in the territory. 

As a jurist and a citizen, Judge Truitt commands the respect of the whole 
people, and his careful watchfulness over the rights of the natives, meting 
out to them just deserts when offenders, and standing as their protector when 
improperly treated, has made them his warmest friends. By his strict integ- 
rity, his fairmindedness and the impartial administration of the duties of his 
office, he has won for himself an enviable reputation as a man of broad 
mind, fine judicial ability and an honorable and upright judge He enjoys 
the honor of presiding over the largest district, from a geographical stand- 
point in the world. 



CHAPTER XI. 



ESKIMO HABITvS AND CUSTOMS. 



n^HE Eskimo, or Innuit, as they 
call themselves, of Arctic 
Alaska, do not live, as many sup- 
pose, in snow houses. They live 
in huts built underground. Usually 
more than one familj^ occupy a sin- 
gle hut, and often ten or fifteen per- 
sons live for eight months in the 
3'ear in a single apartment that is 
barely large enough for two per- 
sons. 

Their huts are built by digging 
a hole in the ground about six feet 
deep, and logs are stood up side by 
side all around the hole. On the 
tops of these are laid logs that rest 
even with the top of the ground. 
Stringers are then laid across them 
and other logs are laid on these, 
when moss and dirt is covered over, 
leaving an opening about two feet 
square, over which is stretched a piece of walrus entrail that is 
so transparent that light comes through, which answers the pur- 
pose of a window. 

An entrance into the hut is made through an apartment con- 
structed similar to the hut, in the top of which a hole is left large 
enough to admit a person, and by means of a sort of stepladder 
he reaches the bottom. From this is a passagewa}', usually 
about two feet square, through which he must crawl on his 
hands and knees to reach the living room of the hut, perhaps 
fifteen or twenty feet away. At the end of the passage leading 




ZAKSRINER. 



I04 ALASKA. 

into the hut is a skin which is pushed aside " when one enters or 
goes out. When this is closed over the hole, the apartment is 
practically airtight, and when occupied b}' a dozen or more 
persons the air soon becomes so foul that one side of the little 
skin window has to be pulled up to let it escape. Occasionally 
a hut is found where the occupants appreciate the value of fresh 
air and have inserted a wooden spout in the roof through which 
the impure air is allowed to escape. 

No tables or chairs are ever used by the Eskimo, and the 
onl}^ article found in the w^aj' of furniture is their stove, or, more 
properly speaking, lamp. They are all of one pattern, usually 
of wood, but sometimes of stone, and are shaped the same as a 
circular board would be if cut in halves. The center of the lamp 
is hollowed out to a depth of perhaps a half inch, thus leaving a 
ridge all around. Along the circle of this ridge is spread a sort 
of cotton, gathered from a wild shrub in summer. This answers 
for a lamp wack, and when saturated with seal oil will burn a 
long time before being consumed. The lamp is placed on two 
wooden pins driven into the logs on one side of the hut, and 
above the lamp is driven another w^ooden pin, on which is placed 
a piece of seal blubber, just far enough from the flame to cause 
the oil to drip sufficiently to furnish fuel for the lamp. 

The Eskimo may be truly said to burn the midnight oil, for 
their lamps are never suffered to go out from the time they are 
lighted in the fall until they abandon their huts for the tent in 
summer. They are their only stove, and for heating purposes 
are excellent. 

The Eskimo are, as a rule, industrious. It is seldom that a 
lazy person is seen among either sex. They early learn that an 
existence is only to be had bj- apph-ing themselves to some task, 
and the older they grow the more they are impressed with the 
knowledge that they can satisfy the cravings of an empt}^ stom- 
ach only by industrious labor. 

The preparation of skins requires ceaseless exertion, and 
when they are ready to be made up, sinew thread must be 
braided and twisted, which of itself is an art. This is one of the 
first things a young girl is taught, and while she is yet almost 
an infant is capable of preparing thread from deer or whale 
sinew with all the dexterity of a woman. Most women are ex- 
pert sewers, and their stitches are often as even and regular as 
could be made by a machine. 




KsKiMO Boy, Eskimo Hut, Eskimo Girls, Eskimo Family, 
Eskimo Spearing Walrus. 



ESKIMO HABITS AND CUSTOMS. 105 

It is probably from the fact that the Eskimos are obliged to 
put an endless amount of labor into nearly everything they 
make, that is to be found the secrect of their everlasting 
patience. They will scrape at a skin a long time before hardly 
an impression is made upon it, and rub and pull at one when it 
is hard and stiff. Their delicately formed hands seem poorly 
adapted to such kind of work , but in the end the skin becomes 
soft and pliable. 

Their hands are, without exception, small and prettily shaped. 
Kven among those women who are tall and slimly built their 
hands are unusually small and shapely. The same is true of 
their feet ; and this feature, so prominent among the female sex, 
is also universal among the men. The complexion of the Eskimo 
is also of a character that one would scarcely expect to find 
among people who are brought so much in contact with the ele- 
ments. Although the color of their skin borders strongly on the 
olive order, it seems soft and clear. 

In eating, the Eskimo all sit around in a circle, and the food 
is placed on the floor in the center of the group. No meal, 
whether it be of dried or frozen fish, seal or whale meat, is ready 
to be eaten until a vessel containing seal oil is at hand. This is 
placed in a position easily reached by those eating, and, before 
taking a bite of anything, it is first dipped into the oil, or two or 
three fingers are thrust into it, and then placed into the mouth 
and sucked. Such a thing as a spoon is rarely ever used by 
them, and it is doubtful if many of them would understand its 
use if they had one. 

It is when a household of Eskimo are gathered about the floor 
partaking of their food that their natural disposition to mirth is 
given full sway, and every meal, whether in their huts or in the 
tent on the beach, partakes more of the nature of a family re- 
union than an everyday occurrence. They are naturally given 
to jest and laughter, and a continual hubbub reigns until the 
last morsel is eaten. This predisposition toward good nature is 
always present A surly Eskimo is rarely seen, and whether it 
rains or shines, or the wind blows a blizzard from the north pole, 
they are the same happy and apparently contented people. 

The Eskimo have but one standard measure, and that is the 
fathom. It means as much as a man can span by holding his 
arms out at right angles to his body, and this measures about six 
feet. When buying calico or drilling of the whites, or measuring 



io6 ALASKA. 

the dimensions of a boat or lo.^;-, or for an}- other purpose, it is 
always so many fathoms, or "e sung nuk," as it is called by 
them. 

If a woman wants to make a present, the only thing that sug- 
gests itself to her, and in fact the only thing she ever gives to a 
lover, is a tobacco pouch, or "tee rum i ute," as it is called. 
These they make of reindeer or squirrel skin in various styles, 
and decorate them with beads or some fancy-colored fur, such as 
the ermine, either in its delicate yellow tinge of summer or the 
pure white it assumes in winter. 

The Eskimo still cling to the primitive manner of making fire 
with flint stone and their little pieces of steel, usually a piece of 
an old file, and flint are as much a part of one's personal belong- 
ings as the coat he wears upon his back. 

They carry these articles in a little bag, in the bottom of 
which are little wads of the same fibrous material used for wicks 
for their oil lamps, and w^hich is gathered from a wild bush in 
the fall of the year. In making a light, they take a small piece 
of this cotton, which has previously been rolled in wood ashes, 
and, holding it between the thumb and flint, strike the steel 
against the stone, and the sparks emitted ignite the cotton, which 
is blown into a flame. It is a crude way of getting a fire started, 
but is one of the most simple and interesting of their customs, 
for it comes from a period of time when the Eskimo had to 
depend upon their own resources for obtaining a fire, and before 
they knew anything about the usefullness of the match of 
civilization. 

The Eskimo are complete slaves to tobacco, and it is seldom 
that one is seen who does not use it in one form or another. All 
the men and most of the women smoke, while a child, after it 
reaches the age of five or six years, appears not to be a true 
representative of his race if he cannot smoke a pipe or chew 
tobacco. 

While nearly all the women smoke, they take to chewing more 
naturally, and they do it so quietly that one would not suspect it 
from their actions. They never spit, and only crunch it occa- 
sionally, ])referring to suck it or allow it to lie quietly in the 
mouth, and, as spittle accumulates, swallow it. They can not 
understand why a white man spits when chewing or smoking, 
for they seem to find pleasure in the halMt only from swallowing 
the juice. If a native is chewing and wants to eat he carefully 



ESKIMO HABITS AND CUSTOMS. 107 

takes the quid of tobacco from his mouth and puts it on top of 
his ear. From this place it is afterwards taken to be again put 
in his mouth, and this process is repeated until he has gotten all 
the substance he can from the tobacco. It is then carefully put 
away in his tobacco pouch, to eventually find its wa}- to his 
pipe, and the end of that tobacco is not reached until it is wafted 
away in clouds of smoke. An Eskimo who is without tobacco 
is as wretched as a confirmed drunkard without his whisky, and 
he will go to as great extremes to secure it as he would to pro- 
cure food for himself and family. It is the first thing he asks 
for when a white man approaches him, and the first article he 
wants to trade for when he has furs to sell. 

The oomiak, or skin boat, is a curiously constructed affair, 
and when standing on the beach looks lumbering and awkward 
and as if it would not carry a heavy load or ride much of a sea ; 
yet as many as thirty or forty persons often get in one, and when 
thus loaded it will ride in rough water with remarkable buoy- 
ancy. The usual size of the oomiak is about thirty-five feet 
long, six feet beam^ about four feet deep in the middle, and 
comes almost to a point at both ends. It is built something 
after the shape of a dory. The frame work is made of pieces of 
timber, the heaviest of which is about three inches square. 
These are placed crosswise in the bottom of the boat, and across 
them are lashed small strips by means of seal thongs, each joint 
being made to fit closelj'. 

When the timbers are firmly lashed together, they are very 
strong, and a heavy sea striking the side of the boat will not 
cause it to yield at a single joint. When the framework is 
finally read}-, walrus or sealskin is stretched over it, the pieces 
sewed together and pulled as tightly as possible, and then lashed 
to the top-rail. When the skin is in place scarcely a drop of 
water can penetrate through the seams. Over the top-rail about 
two feet of the skin is allowed to hang loosely on the inside, the 
whole length of the boat, and when sailing in rough weather, 
slats are raised between the skin and frame, the loose skin pulled 
up, thus giving about two feet more of surface above the sea, 
and if carefully managed, scarcely a drop of water can reach the 
inside in the roughest weather. The oomiak has no keel and 
therefore cannot beat or tack against the wind, and the only 
thing to do if it blows too hard, is to seek the first landing that 
can be made. 



io8 ALASKA. 

There is generally but one mast to the oomiak, and this 
stands about one-third of the length back from the bow, and 
when there is no wind it is taken down and laid in the 
boat. Sometimes, when the wind is fair, a second but smaller 
mast is placed about the same distance from the stern of the 
boat, but they are only used in the largest oomiaks. The 
lower end of the mast is inserted in a slot between timbers 
in the bottom of the boat, and gU5's extend from near the top 
to both sides and also to both bow and stern. 

One not used to the oomiak is in constant dread of moving 
about, for fear that if he should step between the framework he 
will make a hole in the skin, for the water is plainly seen through 
it. The natives pay little attention to where they step in going 
from one part of the boat to another, and although their feet 
will depress the skin two or three inches, there is no danger of 
its giving way, and the very spot they are standing on would 
doubtless hold up a ton. 

The k)^ak used by the Eskimo is similar in construction and 
style to the skin canoe or bidarka found among the natives 
along the southern coast of Alaska. It is not much used by the 
coast Eskimo, as they do most of their traveling by water in the 
oomiak, but those in the interior use them to greater extent in 
navigating on the rivers and lakes, they being so light that they 
can carrj^ them about with very little trouble. They are gen- 
erally the single-hatch kyak, but occasionally one is found with 
two or three holes and capable of carrying as many persons. 

An article of clothing that is indispensable among the Eskimo 
is the " kar pee tuk " or rain coat. It is made from the entrails 
of the seal or walrus, strips about three inches wide being sewed 
together and made so as to slip over the head like an artiger. It 
is identical in shape and made the same as the " kamalika " worn 
by the natives along the southern coast of the territory. If care- 
fully sewed it is water-tight, and will weigh but a few ounces. 
It is rather a neat and tasteful looking garment when dry, and 
rustles like silk, but when wet has a slick or slimj^ appearance 
strongly suggestive of the part of the animal from which it is 
made. 

A mark which serves as a good means of determining the 
sexes is that worn by the females, which consists of three or five 
lines about an eighth of an inch wide on the chin, which resem- 
bles tattooing made with India ink. Instead of pricking it in, a 



ESKIMO HABITS AND CUSTOMS. 109 

sharp instrument is drawn over the skin until blood comes, and 
wood ashes are then rubbed in. This practice is almost universal, 
and is usuall}- put on when a girl reaches about the age of eight 
years. 

Among the men the practice of wearing labrets is common, 
though not so universally adopted as tattooing among the women. 
These labrets are worn on either side of the lower lip, an aper- 
ture having been punctured with some pain and much care for 
the purpose. The most popular style is about a half- inch in 
diameter, but sometimes they reach the enormous size of an inch. 
They are usualh' made of highly polished ivorj'- with a colored 
bead in the center, and are occasionally worn on both sides of the 
chin. Glass stoppers are much sought after for this purpose, 
but not much worn on account of being difficult to obtain. 

The tattooing by the women and wearing of labrets by the 
men have no significance other than being considered an adorn- 
ment for the face. Some of the women have the middle latch of 
the nose pierced, from which beads are su.spended, but they are 
considered troublesome and are being abandoned. 

The favorite manner of having the ears pierced by the women 
is just above the end, from which two or three strings of beads 
are suspended, passing from one ear to the other under the chin. 
The younger women wear beads wound around their hair, which 
is first braided on both sides, and occasionally bracelets and neck- 
laces of beads are worn. 

The men seldom tattoo their arms or hands, and their only 
peculiaritj' of dress is wearing the labret and .shaving the crowns 
of their heads. 

Plurality of wives is a practice that is b}- no means common, 
and when it does occur it is among men who, by virtue of their 
possessing more property than their neighbors, are able to sup- 
port more than one wife. When the custom prevails, there 
appears to be no disturbing or quarrelsome disposition, and if 
there is any, the aggrieved woman bottles her wrath, doubtless 
from fear that she will be turned out to shift for herself, which is 
more to be dreaded than an}- pang of envy or jealousy she might 
experience. 

The Arctic Alaska Eskimo is, physically, a fine specimen of 
the human race. While as a rule they will not average over 
five feet six or eight inches in height, occasionally a six-footer is 
found, but he is a very rare exception. They are not by any 



no ALASKA. 

means dwarfish in stature or slow and sluggish in their move- 
ments; neither are thej- dull and stupid intellectually. The 
casual observer might think them so, for they appear subdued 
and reserved when among the whites; but when away from them 
and left to act freely, they are bright, cheerful and intelligent. 

A stout or corpulent Eskimo is never seen. Their whole life 
is one which calls into play everj- muscle of the bodj'', and they 
are distinctly an athletic race. Not a pound of superfluous flesh 
is on their closely knitted frames, and, while their hands, lower 
limbs, and feet are very small, their chests and shoulders are 
grandly developed, and their arms are muscular and sinewy. 

They are very fond of athletic .sports, and football and jump- 
ing are practiced by them to a considerable extent. They in- 
dulge in many exercises that test their strength, such as pulling 
each other's arms when locked together, wrestling, lifting each 
other or heavy weights, and many such exercises that will bring 
into play every muscle. Many of them excel in jumping and 
kicking, and occasionally one is found who can kick with both 
feet higher than his own head, a performance that few white 
athletes can accomplish. Little Zaksriner, whose picture ap- 
pears at the opening of this chapter, performs a most wonderful 
feat. She clasps her hands behind her back, bending forward 
until her head touches the floor, and straightens up without 
bending her knees or unclasping her hands. 

The principal amusement of the Eskimo, however, is dancing, 
and they indulge in it upon the slightest provocation. While 
the women take part in this pastime, it is with moderation, and 
as a sort of embellishment to the fatiguing and wearisome jump- 
ing about so ceaselessl}' practiced by the men. They seem to 
find the most enjoyment in blending their voices with those of 
the men in song. Although the}^ do not possess the accomplish- 
ment to a very great extent, nor is the number of tunes very 
large, j^et there is a harmony in them all that becomes the more 
pleasing to the ear the oftener they are heard. 

When dancing, one or more of the men beat upon a drum 
made by stretching a piece of walrus entrail over a hoop, and 
this serves as a time-marker for the participants in the dance, to 
which the grotesque throwing about of the arms and twisting of 
their bodies are madi to add a pantomimic accompaniment. 
During all this time they jump and whirl about in the most vio- 
lent manner, and only stop from sheer exhaustion. 



CHAPTER XII. 



REINDEER. 



F^IVE years ago a United States revenue cutter, which was 
detailed bj'^ the government to patrol the Arctic, so as to 
render assistance to the whaling vessels if the}^ should be nipped 
in the ice, had occasion to pass within sight of a little island in 
North Bering sea, and about forty miles from the coast, known 
as King's island. The man on the lookout at once noticed a boat 
put off from the island, loaded with people, and it immediately 
paddled toward the vessel. As soon as it came alongside the 
occupants made known to the captain that they were in a starv- 
ing condition. An officer was at once sent ashore, and he soon 
returned and reported that the people were so reduced for food 
that the}'^ had been living for some weeks on their Eskimo dogs. 
There are about 300 Eskimos on this island, and they live in 
huts dug into the side of a mountain, gaining an entrance and 
passing from one to another b}' means of pole ladders strung 
along an abrupt portion of it, and, though difficult of access, the 
location of the huts affords protection from the severe winds and 
cold of the long winter. For eight months in the year, the ice 
absolutely prevents the natives from having any communication 
with those on shore, and they only come in contact with them 
when they venture across the water in their skin boats during 
the brief summer. 

A few j-ears ago the walrus existed in large numbers through- 
out all this region. The whalers on their way north have hunted 
them so closely that they have practically exterminated them. 
The walrus travel in herds, pulling out on the ice, sleeping and 
basking in the sun, and in this condition become an easy prey 
to the white man with his breech-loading rifle. The}^ are hunted 
by the whalers simply for their ivorj' tusks, a pair of them 
weighing from eight to twenty pounds, and having a value of 
only about eighty cents per pound. The ivory is used by the 



112 ALASKA. 

natives in the manufacture of many of their implements of the 
hunt and chase, their skin is used by them for tents and cover- 
ings for their boats and canoes, and the flesh and oil are consid- 
ered b}^ them a delicacy. 

Five or six years ago it was not an uncommon thing for a 
party of Eskimo to put out in a skin boat, and with their crude 
harpoon and spears, capture a whale, but the American whalers 
have so closely pursued them, that now they are only found a 
long distance north of the last settlement. During the summer 
of 1894, but one whale was caught by the Eskimo. A single 
whale will average from twelve hundred to two thousand pounds 
of whalebone. Its market value is from four to six dollars per 
pound, and it is easily seen that a whaler that captures three or 
four whales in a season, comes pretty near paying for his ship, 
outfit and the risk he runs in entering those icy fields in search 
of this valuable animal. 

Since the advent of the whalers man\' natives have bought 
muzzle-loading rifles and ammunition from them, and have 
hunted the wild reindeer, killing them off without regard to age 
or sex, until they, too, are practically exterminated. A few 
years ago they roamed all through Arctic Alaska in large herds, 
but the past year but two of them were killed by these people. 
Thus it will be seen that the greed of the white man has robbed 
these people of two of their principal food supplies, until to-day 
they are left in almost a starving condition, being obliged to 
depend almost entirely upon the hair seal and small fish for their 
food supply. 

Dr. Sheldon Jackson was on board the revenue cutter when it 
visited King's i.sland, and on his return to Washington City, he 
interested the government in behalf of the starving Eskimo, and 
secured an appropriation for the purpose of introducing reindeer 
from Siberia, where they exist in immense herds. The purpose 
contemplated being to establish stations in different parts of 
Arctic Alaska, instruct the Eskimo in the manner of rearing 
them, and when they learn to care for them, as the natives do in 
Siberia, distribute them among the natives so that in the future 
they will have an unfailing food and clothing supply. 

The author of this book was selected by the government to 
establish a reindeer station at Port Clarence, and in the summer 
of 1892, one hundred and seventy of these animals were brought 
over from the Siberian coast and the station duly organized. 




^ ■ 



Kings Island, North Bering Sea. 



REINDEER. 



113 



The increase the first year was nearly fifty per cent, and other 
reindeer have been brought over each year since, so that there 
are now nearly seven hundred in the herd. 

Arctic Alaska is peculiarly adapted to the raising of reindeer. 
It consists of vast areas of tundra and moss which furnishes the 
reindeer with an article of food especially adapted for their suste- 
nance. There is little doubt that the reindeer industry will, in 
the near future, asssume considerable proportions, and private 
companies will embark in the business of raising this animal in 
these regions for commercial purposes, the same as stock-raising 
is followed in the grazing regions in man}- of the States of the 
Union. Its flesh is excellent and as palatable as the venison 
usually found in the market, and the hides, if cured in the proper 
season, are well adapted to many purposes of commerce. 

The color of the fur of the reindeer is varied. Perhaps the 
most common is the seal-brown, and when free from other shades 
is decidedly rich in appearance. The fur, for such it may prop- 
erly be called, after it has taken on its summer coat is soft and 
glossy and about the length of that of the fur-seal. When taken 
at this season, if properly dressed, it sheds ver}- little. The skin 
is soft and pliable, and but little thicker than that of the fur-seal. 
The reindeer skin was at one time the only one used by the 
natives for their clothing, tents, and everything else, but now the 
seal and ground squirrel skins pla}^ an important part. Reindeer 
skins have become a matter of luxury with the natives, and onh- 
those who deny themselves other things that they need for their 
comfort, wear reindeer clothing. In the country about Kotze- 
bue Sound occasionally a skin is secured from a wild reindeer, 
but is so rare that it assumes somewhat the nature of a curiosity. 
Thus it will be seen that, practically, all the reindeer skins used 
by the Alaskan Eskimo come from Siberia. 




CHAPTER Xlir. 



MISSIOXARIES AND THKIR WORK. 



TT was in 1793, that Catherine, Empress of Russia, sent mis- 
sionaries to Russian America to instruct the natives in religion, 
and at the same time, also sent convicts from Siberia to teach 
them agriculture. The result of this strange admixture was, 
that, in ten years, the number of natives was largely reduced, the 
outrages of unscrupulous men being so unspeakable. The lives 
of natives were valued no more than those of dogs ; and the spirit 
and life were nearly stamped out of such as survived. 

The Russian proverb — "Heaven is high and the czar dis- 
tant" — was followed literally, and the indignities practiced upon 
the unfortunate natives were without limit. A few priests of the 
Greek faith tried to stem the tide, but succeeded in an indifferent 
manner. Their missions were established at different points on the 
coast, and even in the interior. The natives, attracted by the pomp 
and ceremony of the church, were attentive listeners and ob- 
servers. But they understood very little, and not much informa- 
tion was imparted, aside from teaching the Russians and half- 
breed children the rites of the church. Indian attendance was 
not encouraged in the Russian schools. 

During the Russian occupancy. Fins, Swedes, and Germans 
were largely employed by the fur company, and a Lutheran mis- 
sionary was sent out to Sitka for their benefit, and a mission 
established in 1845. The Russian schools and churches, for the 
most part, were closed in 1867, when the American flag dis- 
placed that of Russia ; and Russians and other Europeans 
returned to their respective countries, leaving the people "cor- 
rupted and degraded by their influence. ' ' The Lutheran preacher 
with his flock also departed. United States soldiers were placed 
in frontier posts, and a new set of traders took the places of the 
former ones. 

For seventeen years Congress neglected to provide any form 
of civil government for her new possessions ; all progress was 
checked, and healthful development was at a discount. This 



MISSIONARIES AND THEIR WORK. 115 

was, no doubt, due to the bitter denunciations of the purchase of 
Alaska, and the ridicule heaped upon what was sneeringly 
referred to as 'Seward's folly." Alaska was considered by the 
great American people as a whole to be an inhospitable region of 
perpetual snow and ice ; peopled by ignorant, fierce and degraded 
savages— notwithstanding the statement which has been so often 
quoted from Mr. Seward's speech on Alaska: "That it must be 
a fastidious person who complains of a climate in which, while the 
eagle delights to soar, the humming bird does not disdain to flutter. ' ' 
Finally, the tales of gold discovery, coupled with the work of 
American and other missionaries, stimulated our government 
into attempting an assumption of its duty. It is an undoubted 
fact, that the present geographical knowledge of this vast coun- 
try has been largely gained through devoted missionaries, and it 
is also due to this class of persons that the natives have learned 
"that the white men are not all bad, ' ' a belief strongly implanted 
in their minds from their intercourse with viscious traders, and 
unscrupulous persons. 

To Dr. Sheldon Jack- 
son, who first visited 
Alaska in 1884, is due, 
in a large measure, the 
present excellent condi- 
tion of the Alaska school 
system. He saw for him- 
self the degradation and 
ignorance which prevailed 
among the natives, and 
the virgin field offered for 
educational and other 
work. Through his efforts, 
Mrs. A. R. McFarland, an 
intrepid woman, took up 
the work at Fort Wrangel, 
where a native teacher 
named Philips had, un- 
aided, sought to elevate 
DR. SHELDON JACKSON. ^hg moral status of his 

people, and instruct them in civil methods. Mrs. McFarland 
became nurse, doctor, undertaker, preacher and teacher. No 
marriage ceremony then existed amo.ig the natives,[and poly- 




ii6 ALASKA. 

gam}^ slaver)^ and devil dances were common. Her untiring 
efforts did much to eradicate these evils, and further substantial 
progress. She left Fort W'rangel a few years later,, and is now 
engaged in the same work at the lower portion of Prince of 
"Wales Island, where she is loved and respected by the natives. 

In 1885, Congress made an appropriation for the Alaska pub- 
lic school system, and Dr. Jackson was appointed General Agent 
of Education for the territory. In this capacity he has estab- 
lished schools in the most advantageous points throughout the 
whole territory, and the apportionment of the public moneys, 
among the already established church denominations, has made 
the missionary work of Alaska a mighty bulwark of religious 
strength for the welfare of the natives. Dr. Jackson is truly a 
pioneer christian worker. After many years of arduous duty in 
a number of the western territories, he sought a new field in the 
great Alaskan territor}-. He was confronted by the totally un- 
organized state of the country, devoid of laws or government, 
but his indomitable spirit was not held down by difficulties 
— he gained the ear of the powers at Washington — and his 
earnest, fervent faith is daily proved by his works. To Dr. 
Jackson also belongs the credit of importing reindeer from Siberia 
to Arctic Alaska. While in search of new fields for missionary 
and school work, he discovered that the Eskimos were starving. 
He at once interested government in the cause, and to-day the 
industry of domesticating reindeer in that section is an assured fact. 

In this connection it is proper to add that this humane propo- 
sition was at first met with severe criticism and opposition on 
the grounds that it was impracticable and a useless expenditure 
of public money. And were it not that Mr. Harris, X'nited 
States Commissioner of Education, gave it his hearty support 
and encouragement, the most beneficent act ever extended to a 
worthy and starving people, would not have become as it has, 
an assured success. And to this broad-minded and worthy official 
who has stood faithfully by the cause of education in Alaska, is also 
largely due the credit of its advancement in this far off territory. 

The first school in Alaska was organized at Kadiak by Gregory 
Shelikoff, in 1784. And the first church building was also4.here 
erected; it still exists, but the school has been extinct for a quar- 
ter of a century. 

The Indian industrial training schools have proved excellent 
institutions. Among these three deserve especial mention. 



MISSIONARIES AND THEIR WORK. 117 

They are located at Sitka, Koserefski on the Yukon, and at New 
Metlakahtla. The founder and director of the latter is ]\Ir. 
William Duncan, to whose work reference is made elsewhere in 
this volume. The school at Sitka is partially aided by this gov- 
ernment and is under the management of the Presbyterian Board 
of Home Alissions, and that of Koserefski is under Roman Cath- 
olic supervision. 

In these schools the boys are taught painting, carpentry, 
shoemaking and other trades. The girls are instructed in cook- 
ing, baking, sewing and all branches of plain housekeeping, the 
purpose in short of these schools being to civilize and chris- 
tianize the native children. 

The number of private schools supported by various religious 
denominations, is nineteen, while the number supported by the 
government is sixteen. The Russian church, established so 
long ago, has many communicants, but many of them retain 
their belief in witchcraft, polygamy and kindred barbarous prac- 
tices. 

The indefatigable efforts of teachers and missionaries, their 
absolute devotion to the work of civilization and christianizing 
the natives of Alaska, has been of incalculable benefit to this 
hitherto neglected people. There has been mental, moral and 
physical growth, who.se influence is far-reaching, and which 
should command the hearty sympathy and support of all humani- 
tarians, irrespective of class or creed. 

The Greek church, so early in the field, had a few — a very 
few — noble exceptions among their priests who did good work 
for the natives. 

Father Tosi, of the Ronxin Catholic faith, has labored long 
years with devotion on the Yukon. Father Althoff after sixteen 
3'ears of Alaskan labor has been appointed to work in Vancouver, 
British Columbia. He opened the mission work in Juneau, 
founded there the school and hospital of St. Anns and the Roman 
Catholic church. Through many discouragements and uncer- 
tainties. Father Althoff and the good sisters labored at Juneau, 
receiving nothing for their services save their frugal board and 
modest apparel. Upon his departure to his new field, the 
Scarcliliglif, of Juneau, on February' 25th, 1895, gave a most 
fitting tribute to his services, which concluded thus: "As a 
priest, the prayers of his people will go with him, as a citizen 
he will be greatl}- missed ; as one of the worthy pioneers of the 



ALASKA. 



territorj^ he will ever be held in grateful remembrance b}- all who 
feel an interest in the welfare of Alaska." 

Rev. Hall Young and wife, formerly at Fort Wrangel, Pro- 
fessor and Mrs. John A. Tuck, of the Methodist Episcopal 
church, stationed at Unalaska, Mr. and Mrs. \V. T. Lopp, Con- 
gregational, at Cape Prince of Wales, Mr. and Mrs. I. Loomis 
Gould, Presbyterian, at Jackson, Rev. and Mrs. E. A. Austin, 
Pr-esbyterian, at Sitka, have all worked for a number of years 
with a devotion rarely equalled. 





II.\RRISON R. THORNTON. 

The noble family of martyrs have also been recruited within 
Alaskan borders. Father Juvenal, a Russian priest, was killed at 
Cook inlet for his interference with polygamy. Archbishop 
Seghers, of the Roman Catholic church, was murdered on the 
Yukon by a traveling companion. A teacher named Fid wards was 
killed at Kake village in 1891, while attempting to enforce the law 
in regard to the landing of whisky, and in the summer of 1893, 
Harrison R. Thornton, a young missionary and teacher who, 
with his wife, was stationed at Cape Prince of Wales, was cruelly 
murdered by ]'<skimos, for which act there was no cause and which 
could ha\-e been prevented. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



THE BOUNDARY DISPUTE. 



HTHE early founders of the American nation, who sought an 
asylum in New England, free from the religious intolerance 
and oppression of the mother countr)-, declared that they offered 
a shelter to the "oppressed of every nation." The invitation 
thus extended bj- the early pioneers was generous, and how it 
has been taken advantage of is evidenced to- da}' b}' the fact that 
the United States has a cosmopolitan population. 

Those who sought these shores to make homes and become 
good citizens have been welcomed. They have had the protec- 
tion of government and have become factors in the upbuilding 
of the republic. And the open arms and generous freedom 
which the United States has ever extended to kinsmen over the 
water are traits that but typify our national characteristics. No 
sentries have been stationed on crag or promontory to warn off 
intruders ; no large standing army has been maintained in order 
that the people might exercise all their rights of citizenship. 
Differences with other nations which have arisen from time to 
time have been, for the most part, settled by arbitration. Some- 
times we have had our rights acknowledged, and at others we 
have acquiesced in unfavorable decisions, that the credit and 
honor of the nation might be maintained and that peaceful 
relations might be sustained. No spirit of national aggrandize- 
ment has been manifest in the history of the United States. The 
notable wars of this nation have been waged in the name of life 
and liberty, and for the united country. 

International complications have not been unknown, it is true, 
but it is submitted that this country has been fair, reasonable 
and placable, always, in dealing with questions of comity, com- 
merce or privileges with other nations. In the matter of the fur 
seal dispute with England, the defeat suffered by our govern- 
ment, is vet fresh in the minds of all our citizens. The award 



I20 ALASKA. 

made by the Paris tribunal seems to us to be most unjust, and 
yet, as an advanced civilized nation, our honor would be impugned 
were it not strictly adhered to. No nation worthy of the name 
can afford to besmirch its reputation by any attempt to repudiate 
a solemn compact. Hardly had the decision of the Paris tribu- 
nal been handed down, before the attention of the countr}^ was 
called to a matter in which England again became the aggressor, 
and that too, in connection with the territory' of Alaska. This 
is the so-called boundar}- dispute between Canada and the 
United States, embracing a portion of Southeastern Alaska. 
While the British and Canadian authorities have been active, our 
government and people have shown an apathetic spirit in deal- 
ing with the question; but it is now noted that attention is being 
directed to it, largely through the instrumentality of citizens of 
Alaska and the State of Washington who are conversant with 
the question, and of the importance of this strip of territory, 
from commercial and geographical aspects, being retained to the 
northern territory and to the United States. We believe that it 
is time for a re-enunciation of the patriotic principle contained 
in the Monroe doctrine, if our self respect as a nation cannot be 
otherwise maintained — "that the United States will not permit 
European interference or European control in America, north or 
south." 

In view of the importance of this question to the United 
States, and especially to Alaska, it is in order here to consider 
the subject in its various details. The claim made by the British 
government, acting at the instance of Canada, embraces a valu- 
able strip of land, a portion of which is the key to a vast extent 
of the interior of Alaska, rich in mineral and other resources. 
Though the immense value of this land cannot be accurately 
determined, a knowledge of its geographical position on the 
coast, shows that great commercial advantages will accrue from 
its possession, and that the United States cannot afford to be 
otherwise than firm and aggressive, in asserting and maintaining 
our rights to ownership of this strip. 

By the organic act of Alaska, in the absence of the governor, 
the clerk of the court shall act in that capacity. Upon the 
assembling of Congress last December, the governor was called 
to Washington, and soon after he left Sitka, the disputed bound- 
ary question was given new impetus, by the appearance of a 
party of Canadian surveyors at Juneau, whom it was reported 



THE BOUNDARY DISPUTE. 




HON. CHARLF:S D. ROGERS. 

were to immediately commence a survey into the interior via the 
Taku river, and that this action was to be followed by the estab- 
lishment of a British garrison in Alaskan territory'. Acting 
Governor Rogers said he would call out the militia and swear 
into service the whole native population of Alaska, if an}- at- 
tempt was made to occupy any portion of our territory, or inter- 
fere in any wa}' with the rights of American citizens. This burst 
of patriotism on the part of the young official earned for him the 
title of war governor of Alaska, and had there been any cause 
for such action, the sturdy miners and settlers throughout the 
territory, to a man, would have rallied to his support. 

An interpretation of the treaty, concluded between Russia and 
Kngland in 1825, clearly establishes the line of demarkation 
between what is now Alaska, and what constitutes a portion of 
Canada. 

This treat}' was brought about, primarily, by a ukase of the 



122 ALASKA. 

Russian Czar, issued in 1821, to the effect, that foreign vessels 
would not be allowed to approach within one hundred miles of 
Russian America. Negotiations followed this ukase, resulting in 
the treaty between Russia and England in 1825, wherein Russia 
accepted 54 degrees and 40 minutes north latitude as the south- 
ern limit of her possessions. The treaty was couched in the 
following language: 

"Sec. 3. The line of demarkation between the possessions 
of the high contracting parties upon the coast of the continent 
and the islands of America to the northwest, shall be drawn in 
the following manner: Commencing from the southernmost 
point of the island called Prince of Wales Island, which point 
lies in the parallel of 54 degrees 40 minutes north latitude, and 
between the 131 and 133 degrees of west longitude: the same 
line shall ascend to the north along the channel called Portland 
channel as far as the point of the continent where it strikes the 
56th degree of north latitude: from this last mentioned point the 
line of demarkation shall follow the summit of the mountains 
situated parallel to the coast, as far as the point of intersection 
of the 141 degree of west longitude (of the same meridian), and 
finalh', from the said point of intersection of the 141 degree, in its 
prolongation as far as the frozen ocean, shall form the limit be- 
tween the Russian and British possessions on the continent of 
America to the northwest. 

" Sec. 4. That wherever the summit of the mountains which 
extend in a direction parallel to the coast, from the 56 degree of 
north latitude to the point of intersection of the 141 degree of 
west longitude, shall prove to be at the distance of more than ten 
marine leagues from the ocean, the limit between the British 
possessions and the line of coast which is to belong to Russia as 
above mentioned, shall be formed by a line parallel to the wind- 
ings of the coast, and which shall never exceed the distance of 
ten marine leagues therefrom.'' 

It will be noted that at the time of the purchase of Russian 
America by the United States, in 1867, the limits of the territory 
were described in the articles of cession by Russia, in the exact 
language which appears in this treaty above referred to. It will 
also be observed that the name Portland canal is mentioned as 
the eastern boundary as far north as the fifty-sixth degree north 
latitude. 

At the time of the treaty between Russia and England little 



THE BOUNDARY DISPUTE. 123 

was known of this region, save through the explorations of 
Captain George \'ancouver. In his narrative published towards 
the close of the last centur}^ he speaks of Portland canal, and 
also located a certain rock in Behm canal, and named it " New 
Eddystone Rock," after the rock near the south coast of England 
upon which stands the famous Eddystone light-house known to 
mariners the world over. The Alaska rock, " New Eddystone," 
is two hundred and fifty feet high and about sixty feet in width 
at its base. 

When the treaty of 1S25 was made, England recognized the 
claim of Russia to the territor}- as far east as Portland canal, and 
continued this recognition until the purchase was made by the 
United States in 1867. For more than twenty years preceding 
the treaty the Hudson Bay Company paid Russia an annual 
rental for the privilege of trading in the inland waters to the 
northwest of Portland canal, and our government maintained a 
garrison at Fort Tongas at the mouth of this canal until 1870 
and a custom house until 1SS9. 

The maps issued by the United States since the Alaska pur- 
chase and those published by the British authorities, followed 
generally the same line of demarkation, until the year 1887. At 
that time a change was noticed in the British maps, for their line 
was then made to extend within the limits defined by the maps 
of our government. Hence, it is only fair to infer, that when 
this strip of land became better known to England, and its value 
more or less accurately determined, a first attempt was made to 
set up a claim to the territory, through the medium of maps 
published b}- the British government. 

And the claim once set up, it may be further inferred that in 
any negotiations which should follow, England would rely upon 
the power of British craft and diplomacy to win both the point 
and the territory. The policy pursued by the English govern- 
ment in this matter, is entirely in keeping with the method of 
aggrandizement that has been followed for hundreds of years by 
Great Britain. 

The line of demarkation followed by the United States ex- 
tended ten marine leagues back from salt water into the interior, 
claiming a strict interpretation of the articles of cession from 
Russia, whose language was construed to mean ten marine 
leagues or thirty-four miles inland from every point, ivhetlier bay 
or inlet, where salt water washed the shores of the mainland, 



124 ALASKA. 

unless a defined range of mountains intervened running parallel 
with the coast, in which case, the summit of such range became 
the limit. 

The British claim, that where the summit of the mountains are 
not within the ten marine league limit, the boundary shall be 
that distance from the main channels of luater, Thej^ also claim 
that the eastern boundary shall run dne north from the southern- 
most point of Prince of Wales Island, until it intersects Behm 
canal; thence following this channel north as far as the fifty- 
sixth degree of north latitude; thence following the line of the 
coast to the intersection of the 141 degree of west longitude. 
Nowhere along the coast between Portland canal and Mt. St. 
Elias does there appear to be a defined range of mountains, but 
rather a confused jumble, having no regularity of course or bear- 
ing any relation to each other, and the noble peak, Mt. St. Elias, 
that defines the boundary between the British possessions and our 
territory at the 141 degree of west longitude, stands solitary and 
alone in its awe inspiring magnificence. 

By reference to the map, it will be observed that in taking 
Portland canal as the eastern limit, an castivxrd course must be 
followed from the southernmost point of Prince of Wales Island, 
in order to reach said canal. It will also be noted, that from the 
extreme northern limit of Portland canal, to the nearest salt 
water — that of Walker cove, an arm of Behm canal — it is about 
thirty-four miles. It is therefore fair to presume that in taking 
the canal for a boundary, it was with a view of measuring from 
the inland waters, and not the main channels. It is also worthy 
of note, that, if it was not intended to take this canal for the 
eastern boundary, it would not have been necessary to have 
mentioned it in the treaty, and the simple reference, due north, 
would have been all that w^as necessary to convey the intent 

It is also claimed by the British, that this canal could not 
have been intended, because it does not extend to the 56 degree. 
It is true that it does not reach that point by about one mile, but 
if it were five or even ten miles shorter, it would not be anj- 
stronger argument for the other side, for, in the language of the 
treaty, " the same line shall ascend to the north along the chan- 
nel called Portland channel as far as the point of the continent 
where it strikes the 56 degree, "" the line is what is intended 
should strike the 56 degree, and not the channel. Should, then, 
the claim of Great Britain be finally allowed, she will accjuire a 



THE BOUNDARY DISPUTE. 125 

Strip of country seventy-five by one hundred miles in extent be- 
tween Portland and Behm canals, which rightfully belongs to the 
United States. 

While stress is laid upon the encroachments that this bound- 
ary line of the British would make upon our eastern coast, it 
cannot be too clearly demonstrated, that where their boundary 
line deflects westward at about 58 degrees, forty minutes north, 
and thence follows to the 136 degree of west longitude, and there 
takes a southwesterly course to Mt. St. Elias, is to be found a 
strip of coast territory upon which the natural greed of England 
has particularly set its eye. 

This coast land furnishes the outlet to the great interior of 
Alaska, and it is the only available entrance to its immense gold 
fields. Ever since the interior country has presented a field for 
the gold prospector, miners have gone over the mountains from 
the head of Lynn canal, and when the time comes, as it surely 
will, within the next few years, to construct a railroad into the 
valley of the Yukon, and on to Bering sea; our government must 
not lose sight of the fact that the contour of the country will 
cause it to start from the head of Eynn canal, in an overland 
route, where no abrupt mountains obstruct the way. 

The British claim to this one hundred square miles of terri- 
tory would also include Glacier Bay, the most wonderful body of 
water in the world. It is about twenty miles wide by forty long. 
Ten other glaciers beside the celebrated Muir glacier pour their 
huge bodies into this magnificent bay, and then move on through 
channels many fathoms deep out into the sea. Snow-clad moun- 
tains with their deep ravines, moraines and mountainous gorges 
fringe the bay on all sides, and help to form one of the most 
enchanting and delightful spots that the imagination can conceive. 

It is well known that a foreign ship cannot land passengers 
on American soil without conforming to certain laws, and as long 
as Glacier Bay is in United States territory, British ships can- 
not transport tourists traveling over Canadian roads and land 
them in this bay. Neither can foreign ships discharge foreign 
goods in American territory without observing certain customs 
regulations. But if the English should acquire territory inside 
any of the inland waters of Lynn canal, or Taku inlet, twelve 
miles south of Juneau, they could establish stations, construct 
trails or wagon routes into the interior, and it is safe to say 
would control the trade of that rearion. 



126 ALASKA. 

Thus it is clearly apparent that many reasons which do not 
appear on the surface, besides the mere desire to acquire a strip 
of land, cause England to push her claim to a settlement of the 
boundary question in her favor. 

Should the gold fields of the interior develop to the extent 
anticipated, a large emigration is sure to come hither, and in its 
wake will follow the growth of mining and other resources, and 
commerce will reach vast proportions. 

The point sought to have been reached during our controversy 
with England over the northern boundary of the then territory 
of Oregon, which gave rise to the cry " fifty-four forty or fight," 
is the point where our Alaskan possessions begin, and had Alaska, 
at that time been ours, we might not have weakl}' receded from 
our position, and the stretch of countrj- which to-day lies between 
the State of Washington and Alaska, might furnish the missing 
link in the continuous chain of our coast line from Lower Cali- 
fornia to the frozen ocean. 

Petty and unworthy of the grandeur of a nation upon whose 
empire the sun never sets, may seem the narrative which we now 
desire to present, as another of the many reasons wh}^ England 
is seeking to make good her claim to this territory. Little things 
have 'ere this made the great covetous. 

Some thirty-eight years ago, a young Englishman named 
William Duncan landed at Fort Simpson, about seven miles south 
of the Alaskan boundary. He came alone, knowing nothing of 
the people among whom he was about to cast his lot, but at the 
early age of twenty-one, solemnly dedicated his life to the cause 
of raising from barbarism a race, whose frequent acts of cannibal- 
ism stamped them as among the most savage people on the face 
of the earth. 

Fort Simpson was, for many years, one of the most important 
trading posts of the Hudson's Bay Company. It is truly said that 
the number of bear skins necessar}' for a native to purchase a 
muzzle-loading rifle depended upon the number, piled one upon 
another, that it took to reach the muzzle of the gun, when the 
butt end rested on the ground. The agents of this company 
were safely quartered behind stockades, within which enclosure 
only a certain number of natives were ever admitted at one time. 
Yet this dauntless youth, filled with the spirit of the Master, and 
full of confidence in an over-ruling Providence, dwelt in a cabin, 
through the sides of which there were no port -holes, and within 



THE BOUNDARY DISPUTE. 127 

whose walls no rifle was at hand in case of an attack from outside. 

Metlakahtla was the village that Mr. Duncan established more 
than a third of a century ago. There eight hundred natives lived 
and prospered. Taught b}- their devoted friend, they sawed 
logs, built houses, canned salmon, and engaged in nearly every 
branch of business that would utilize the products of the coun- 
try. A church edifice, that would do credit to many a larger 
white settlement, reared its spire heavenward, and every man, 
woman and child in the settlement regularly sought religious 
consolation there. 

But a representative of the Church of England appeared 
among them, and insisted that that portion of the sacrament, 
wherein wine is administered, and which Mr. Duncan had 
ignored, should be observed. His reason for not carrying out 
this important tenet of the church, was that he had found his 
greatest trouble in teaching the natives to avoid intoxicating 
drinks ; and he reasoned, that if he permitted wine at the sacra- 
ment, his people would not understand why they should not 
indulge in liquor, at other times. 

Mr. Duncan's prejudice in this matter was so strong that he 
said if his course were not permitted, he would take his people, 
like the pilgrims of old, to some place where they could exercise 
religious liberty, untrammeled by church dogmas. The church 
ruling was insistant, and Mr. Duncan, equally determined, went 
to Washington, sought Mr. Cleveland and explained how the 
Church of England had attempted to supplant him with another 
minister among the people to whom he had devoted his life. 

He was assured by the President that this government would 
offer an asylum where the)' could enjoy religious freedom ; and 
promised that Congress would take action, looking to their pro- 
tection. Accordingly, on March 3, 1891, a bill was passed, set- 
ting aside Annette island for the use and benefit of these natives, 
but immediately following his visit to Washington, and upon the 
strength of the promise that his people would be protected, they 
abandoned their improvements, and property, gave up their com- 
fortable homes, and with only a few household goods, went out 
into the wilderness. On the seventh day of August, 1S87, they 
arrived at their present home, naming it New Metlakahtla, and 
under the graceful folds of the stars and stripes, which they had 
flung to the breeze, they solenmly transferred their allegiance 
from Canada to the United States. 



128 ALASKA. 

In the past seven years a settlement has been built up that 
bears witness of wonderful progress in civilization by these peo- 
ple. They live in comfortable houses, many of them handsome 
and homelike. Ever)^ branch of business is represented as in 
their old home, only in a more advanced scale, and the people 
are self-sustaining, industrious and happy. And age reminds 
Mr. Duncan that his task is nearly finished. The thirty-eight 
years he has spent among these natives finds them enjoying all 
the benefits of civilization, and in quiet possession of homes 
earned by honest toil. But is it any wonder that he looks into 
the future with sad misgivings, and in fear that the hand of his 
old enemy, now stretched across the boundary, and taking his 
settlement within British lines, will yet draw his people in its 
avaricious grasp ? 

We do not believe the American Congress can afford to stultify 
itself by yielding one jot from the position it has taken in this 
matter to Mr. Duncan, and to which it solemnh- stands com- 
mitted. That it is clearly the intention of the Canadian govern- 
ment backed by England to secure this strip of territory, is 
unmistakable. For the past two years the labors of the Canadian 
boundary commission have been marked by a determination to 
obtain all possible information concerning the disputed territory. 
Government engineers and surveyors have been indefatigable in 
their explorations to secure in detail thorough and exhaustive 
knowledge, which will be placed before the joint commission 
when the boundary question comes up for adjudication next 
November. There is no doubt that the Canadian government 
will make out the strongest possible case, and in this it will be 
aided by the intimate knowledge of the country gained by the 
actual investigation of their engineers. But it seems to us that 
a correct interpretation of the treaty of 1825, coupled with a firm 
presentation of our case, should leave the British claim without 
anj^ support whatever, and with such vigorous assertion of our 
rights, Alaska will not be despoiled of a valuable portion of her 
heritage. 



TABLE OF DISTANCES. 

Nautical Nautical 

Miles. Miles. 

San Francisco to Seattle S20 Juneau to Ty-a 100 

San Francisco to Sitka (outside) 1295 Chilcat to Glacier Bay 146 

San Francisco to Unalaska (outside) 2040 Glacier Bay to Sitka 158 

Seattle to Juneau 976 Juneau to Sitka 185 

Seattle to Port Townsend 38 Sitka to Killisnoo 72 

Port Townsend to Victoria 32 Sitka to Hot Springs 15 

Victoria to Nanaimo 76 Sitka to Yakutat 210 

Nanaimo to Seymour Narrows 80 Sitka to Nuchek 440 

Seymour Narrows to Mary Island--- 455 Sitka to Kadiak 560 

Mary Island to Ketchikan 40 Sitka to Karluk -- -- 628 

Ketchikan to New Metlakahtla 16 Sitka to Unga 888 

Ketchikan to Loring 25 Sitka to Sand Point 882 

Loring to Yaas Bay 19 Sitka to Belkoffsky --- 942 

Loring to Wrangel 90 Sitka to Unalaska ---1250 

Wrangel to Wrangel Narrows 32 Unalaska to Seal Islands 220 

Wrangel Narrows to Juneau 96 Unalaska to St. Michael's 745 

Juneau to Treadwell Mill.--. 2^4 Unalaska to Bering Strait 820 

Juneau to Berner's Bay 46 Bering Strait to Point Barrow 540 

Juneau to Chilcat c^o 

TABLE OF DISTANCES FROM TY-A, HEAD OF STEAMBOAT NAVIGATION, 

TO FT. CUDAHY. 

Miles. 

Ty-a to head of Canoe Navigation 6 

Head of Canoe Navigation to Summit Chilkoot Pass 9 

Summit to head of Lake Linderman 1 8^ 

Head Lake Linderman to foot . 6 

River or Portage to head of Lake Bennett i 

Head of Lake Bennett to foot 24 

Through Cariboo Crossing to head of Tagish Lake 2 

Head of Tagish Lake to foot 19 

Through River to head of Lake Marsh 6 

Head of Lake Marsh to foot 19 

Foot of Lake Marsh to Canyon '- — 25 

Through Canyon }{ 

Foot of Canyon to White Horse Rapids 2 

Through White Horse Rapids )4 

Foot of White Horse Rapids to Tahkeena River - 16 

Tahkeena River to head of Lake Le Barge 14 

Head of Lake Le Barge to foot 31 

Foot of Lake Le Barge to Hootalinqua River 30 

Hootalinqua River to Big Salmon River 34 

Big Salmon River to Little Salmon River^, 37 

Little Salmon River to Five Fingers 62 

Five Fingers to Rink Rapids 6^ 

Rink Rapids to Pelly River 55 

Pelly River to White River 97 

White River to Stewart River 9 

Stewart River to Sixty Mile River 21 

vSixty Mile River to Fort Reliance 53 

Fort Reliance to Forty Mile 48 

Forty Mile to Ft. Cudahy - }4_ 

Ty-a to Ft Cudahy 643 



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Geo. R. Fitch, General Eastern Agent, 319 Broadway, New York. 
F. H. Fogarty, General Agent, 210 South Clark St.. Chicago, 111. 

T. K. Stateler, Gen. Agt. Pass. Dept. 638 Market St., San Francisco, Cal. 

Frank A. Gross, 15 State St., Boston, Mass. 
J. H. Rogers, Jr., 47 South Third St., Philadelphia. 
Z,. L. Billingslea, 47 South Third St., Philadelphia. 
Wm. G. Mason, 44 Exchange St., Buffalo, N. Y. 
W. F. Mershon, 319 Broadway, New York City. 

C. E- Johnson, St. Paul, Minnesota. 

Thomas Henry, 128 St. James St., Montreal, Quebec. 
W. H. Whitaker, 153 Jefferson Avenue, Detroit, Michigan. 
J. R. Turner, 42 Jackson Place, Indianapolis, Indiana. 
C. G. Lemmon, 210 South Clark St., Chicago, 111. 

J. N. Robinson, 99 Wisconsin St., Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 

P. H. Noel, 103 North Broadway, St. Louis, Mo. 

J. J. Ferry, Room 32 Carew Bldg., Cincinnati, Ohio. 

O. Vanderbilt, 503 West Locust St., Des Moines, Iowa. 

T. S. Patty, Read House, Chattanooga, Tenn. 

E. Iv. Rayburn, 255 Morrison, Cor. Third, Portland Oregon. 

F. O'Neill, 255 Morrison, Cor. Third, Portland, Oregon. 
I. A. Nadeau, General Agent, Seattle, Washington. 

A. Tinling, General Agent, Tacoma, Washington. 
F. D. Gibbs, General Agent, Spokane, Washington. 

CHAS S. FEE, A. I). CHARLTON, 

Geul. Pass, and Ticket Agt., St. Paul, Minn. Asst. Genl. Pass. Agt., Portland, Ore. 



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